Well, Halloween has come and gone and I didn’t eat all the candy this afternoon.I am very proud of myself.
The Princess was a witch; The C-man was some kind of ghoul.It was supposed to have this fake blood in tubes that would run down his face, but when I opened the fake blood up, it promptly stained my hands red so I ix-nayed the lood-bay much to the C-man’s chagrin.
I was dead but pretty yet again.That makes three years in a row.The kids told me I should dress up tonight too, not just tomorrow so I obliged.The Princess was very interested in watching me put on my make-up. I got some cool black Goth-like eye shadow to add to my usual look.It was awesome.It is tricky to remove though…tomorrow I may not use quite so much.I will have to get somebody to take a picture of Tom and I at the party tomorrow.I will be dead but pretty and Tom will be David Ortiz from the Boston Red Sox.I can’t wait to see how he pulls this off.He has taken a few days off from shaving so he can do the big sideburns.
Anyway, it was a perfect day for it.Sunny and about 70 degrees when we started out.But by the time we came home it was getting chilly.And we were only out for about an hour and a half.I remember when we were kids we would go for ages.We would change into our costumes after school, then trick or treat until dinnertime.Then once we were older we would go back out after dinner.We would have whole pillowcases full of candy.But here you are only allowed to go out from 5:30 to 7:30.That seems kind of wimpy to me.
But you are probably waiting to see pictures of the kids in their costumes. Here ya go:
Okay, I have been to the liquor store, the grocery store – twice, Hobby Lobby and Target numerous times and I think I finally have everything I need for the party.
I have made three loaves of pumpkin bread; about 8 dozen spritz cookies with jaunty Halloween colored sprinkles and six dozen bat cookies with black sugar on them.The bat cookies look awesome even if I do say so myself.Check it out:
Ooh scary.Tom says it surprises him that I make bat cookies since real bats upset me so much.But these are just pretend bats so it’s okay.
In addition to all these baked goods I’m also planning on serving the Party Meatballs, mummified pork loin (photos to follow post-party), deviled eggs (get it?), and of course the usual party standby’s:chips and salsa and veggies and dip.Oh, and Halloween candy, duh.
As you can see I have been very busy channeling my Inner Martha.And she’s kind of being a pain in the neck.The party is in 48 hours and she has started whispering in my ear, “you don’t have enough food” “you don’t have enough pop”.Actually, I think she has a point there; I need to go buy more Coke tomorrow.
I also need to boil the eggs and make the deviled egg filling, finish cleaning, find the coolers, assemble the coat rack, and go to Wal-Mart.I still need to get make-up so I can be dead but pretty.I had make-up but it was from last year so I threw it out.You are supposed to replace that stuff every six months you know.
So it looks like I will out and about again tomorrow tying up the last of the loose ends.Then maybe my Inner Martha will shut up.
As promised, today we will be talking about pumpkin guts.Here is what I know about pumpkin guts:They are disgusting.
Two weekends ago the children and I went to a local pumpkin farm.The number one rule at the pumpkin farm is this; I have to be able to lift the thing up.If I can’t carry it, they can’t have it.Pretty soon the rule will change to if you can’t carry it, you can’t have it.But this year, I was still being nice.
Once every single pumpkin at the farm had been examined and compared to every other pumpkin purchases were made.We lugged the things home and put them on the front porch.Then last weekend they decided the time had come to carve the things.
Well, I had just endured – I mean spent the afternoon enjoying – a matinee showing of High School Musical 3 and I was in no mood to do pumpkin surgery.So I said I would de-goop them on Monday while they children were in school.There were two obvious advantages with this solution.One, I got out of dealing with the pumpkins for one more day, and two, when I did break out the carving knife I wouldn’t have an audience.There is nothing quite as much fun as two children asking you “are you done yet?” every 10 seconds when you are using the big knives.
Why are pumpkins so difficult to cut open?I swear every year I’m afraid the knife is going to slip and cut my hand off.And once you do cut a hole in the top what do you find?Slimy, disgusting, stringy pumpkin guts.Yech.And they smell bad too.
But I pressed on, as I always do in spite of the orange slime under my fingernails and trailing all the way up to my elbows.I used my goop scoop and scraped the inside of those babies clean.I even roasted the seeds.
And here are the results:
This one is The C-man’s. His jack-o-lanterns tend to be rather abstract.I asked him if this one had a title and he said it was “just a pumpkin.”
This is Princess O’s.
It is a nerdy witch at witch school.Well of course it is. Note the hands and toes.
Gaah! I was so busy today I forgot to publish my lovely post about pumpkin guts and the finished jack-o-lanterns. Oops. My bad.
I would post it now but for small fact that I haven’t written it yet, nor have I taken pictures of the pumpkins.
Tomorrow there will be pumpkin guts, oh yes, there will be pumpkin guts. And maybe a bonus post too. But I just said maybe. That does not promise anything. And if you ask my children they will tell you that maybe actually means no.
But I will try to do a double post tomorrow to make up for my lack of scintillating content tonight.
This makes me sad. And angry. I lived in California for four years and I really liked it out there.Granted I lived in San Francisco, but California always seemed to have a very open-minded, tolerant kind of place.
So you can imagine how distressed I am that the people of California are voting to write discrimination into the constitution.They are actually considering actively legislating discrimination.That’s just wrong.
It doesn’t matter what you think about same sex marriage.I, personally, don’t have a problem with it but that is neither here nor there right now.
What this amendment wants to do is give the Government access to your private lives.That is a potentially slippery slope.
This country was founded on the beliefs that all of us are created equal.That does not mean some of us are more equal than others, we are all the same in the eyes of the law.If Prop 8 passes Californians will be adding an amendment to their constitution that says the opposite.
Please, if you live in California, vote no on Prop 8.
Well, my high school was nothing like that.That is clearly the coolest high school ever.And the best part is, nobody ever seems to have to go to class, they just stage big Broadway-type musical numbers in the gym and the cafeteria.Amazing.
As you may have surmised, I have just returned from the local cinema where I was subjected to a viewing of High School Musical 3.Oh.My.God.I think it may have given me a cavity.
Really, it’s not that bad.It’s kind of funny really because they play it so straight.There is not a hint of edge or irony anywhere in this movie.The kids loved it.
According to this it grossed 42 million dollars this weekend.Wow.I didn’t know there were that many 10 year old girls in the world, but apparently the HSM franchise has a broader appeal than I thought.
When we were waiting in line for our tickets there was a gentleman in like at the next window who looked like he was in is mid-thirties.I was figuring he was here for an early showing of Appaloosa or Sexdrive.No.I heard him go up to the counter and say, “one for High School Musical please”. Okaay…whatever floats your boat I guess.But I have to admit I found that just the tiniest bit odd.I was frankly astonished that there were so many unaccompanied adults at this movie.
When I was looking up the show times I discovered it is playing on 3 screens at the local twelve-plex.You can see it at:
1:30, 2:25, 3:20. 4:25. 5:10, 6:05, 7:00, 7:55, 8:50, 9:45, and 10:30.10:30?Really?That seems a little late for the pre-teen/tween crowd.Apparently those later showings are for the adults who don’t want to sit through the movie with a bunch of kids.And a bunch of moms giving them strange looks.
There was an article in our local paper today saying there has been a small crime wave of sorts.Both Obama and McCain yard signs are being stolen at a fantastic rate of speed.And now, people who want Obama signs can’t get a new one because the office is out of them.I’m not sure about the McCain signs since I don’t spend any time in that office.
I would like to think this is just college kids thinking they are being funny when in fact they are just being stupid.Unfortunately I suspect something more sinister is afoot.
How old are we?We’re all grown-ups here right?What happened to freedom of speech?It hasn’t quite been extinguished yet; despite the best efforts of some Washington dwellers.Don’t we all have a right to display whatever kind of yard sign we want?And does anybody really think that stealing somebody’s yard sign will do anything to sway the election?I wouldn’t think so.If anything stealing an Obama sign just makes the McCain campaign look bad and vice versa.It’s just childish.
I just finished reading American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.That’s the one that is based on the life of Laura Bush.It was really good.I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it since I am not a big fan of the Bush Administration.But it really is about her, not him.In fact he doesn’t even show up until about 100 pages into the book.
I really loved the early parts of the book, about Alice growing up, her family and the early days of relationship with Charlie.
When she arrives in the White House, however, it fizzles out a bit.It becomes more difficult to see this as fiction and not some kind of docudrama as Alice (our heroine and narrator) talks about terrorist attacks on the United States and an unpopular war.
The thing that surprised me the most though, was how sympathetic the George Bush character was.In the book his name is Charlie. He is portrayed as the family screw-up and not the brightest bulb on the tree.A guy that nobody thought would ever really accomplish much, and who really only wanted to be president for the adventure of it, not from any real love of politics or call to public service.Of course he is also selfish, reckless and at times, a really big jerk. Through it all, you get the sense that Alice truly, genuinely loves him, warts and all. Charlie seems much more human than W has ever seemed.
Sittenfeld tries hard to answer the question “what was she thinking?”Meaning, why would a woman like Laura Bush stay with W, or even end up with him in the first place?There are a lot of interesting ideas about love, loyalty and how little influence one spouse really has over the other.I was surprised how much I liked this book and how much I liked Alice Lindgren.I didn’t expect to.
I put up my Halloween lights earlier this week.They are orange and purple and they look pretty darn good if I do say so myself.
I love, love, love Halloween.It is almost as good as Christmas, but only almost as good.Halloween is not a gift-giving holiday, unless you count candy.Actually, maybe you should count the candy.I love candy.I especially like the fun size Baby Ruth bars that are so prevalent this time of year.My other favorite is the lowly Tootsie Roll.Mmmm, they are so delicious.
Of course I still have the luxury of living in a house with small children.Small children who belong to me.They would be offended if they heard me refer to them as small though.However, they are still small enough that I need to accompany them on Halloween night.Not only that, but they are not embarrassed yet by the fact that I like to dress up too.In fact, they encourage it.
This year, I will pull out the old standby costume, “dead but pretty”.This involves a lot of dark eye makeup and red red lipstick and a costume I got at Target three years ago.I think the costume was called “spider queen” It’s a long black dress with a red panel in the front of the skirt, and the trim has red sparkly spider webs on it.It’s very cool.
What I really want though is a Wicked Witch of the West costume a nice one.Like this.
The Wicked Witch is my favorite character in The Wizard of Oz.She is the most interesting.Dorothy just simpers, and the members of her entourage are all very predictable.The Wicked Witch, however, carries the whole movie.I have wanted this costume for years.We are having a Halloween party this year.I’m sure you will hear more about this in exhaustive detail in the coming week and a half.Costumes are encouraged.Do stop by if you happen to be in the neighborhood.
Anyway, if the party is a success, and we end up doing it every year, I will treat myself and invest in a good Wicked Witch costume.It’s probably a better investment than the stock market these days anyway.
Posted by goitaly 
Posted by goitaly 
Posted by goitaly 
