Month: October 2011

Some Funky Halloween Costumes I’ve Seen

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There have been some pretty wild and wacky Halloween costumes that I have been witness to over the years, and thought I would recall some of them for you.  One of the best ones was a ticking pillow.  For city folk, ticking is the blue and white stripe material used to make pillows, then stuff them with feathers.  Now a days it would be foam or the packaged white, fluffy stuff (what is the name of that?).  I was in high school, and my church was having their annual Halloween party.  One of my friends, Gail Addison, came as a ticking pillow, a body pillow.  She couldn’t see anything.  Her parents had brought her in and stood her up.  Of course, no one could guess who she was.

When the party wound down, some of us got in the car and headed off to do what all good church-going teenagers do:  soap windows… or trick or treat at friends’ houses, whichever struck our fancy.  But instead we got the bright idea to tell Gail that we were at somebody’s house, taking her up to the door, and instead dropped her out up town.  I have to tell you that looked pretty funny: a big body-size ticking pillow walking around.  We finally got worried she would fall off the curb and into oncoming traffic, so we picked her back up.  True friends.

The year 2009 when the swine flu was so rampant, I saw a couple dressed up as the H1N1 virus.  Had little balls all over them with a pig nose.  It was original and really neat.

And then there was the farmer with his sheep.  ‘Nuff said.

I have to tell you the flasher was hilarious.  He had a long trench coat on and would “flash” us.  Quite a surprise package he was flashing around.  Had something to do with a lady’s hose if I remember correctly.

Anybody got any unusual Halloween sightings?

Is It The Full Moon?

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Dr. Kimberly Quinlan Lindsey, 44

Click on the link to read her story.  It’s not pretty.  She’s one of the big whigs in the CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; in charge of $1.5 billion fiscal allotment for Terrorism Preparedness.  Is that what made her do these things?  Or is it the full moon?

Two Amish Men

Here’s another unsettling tidbit of information for you.  The Amish?  The ones who wear their differences from the outside world on their shirts with no buttons?  Are they not so different after all?  Or is it the full moon?

Hana Grace

The book that was used to kill13-year-old Hana Grace was written by an Amish preacher.  It tells how to beat your children starting at age one.  Some of you may have heard of it: To Train Up a Child.  It was also the torture inspiration for little Lydia and Sean.  Do these people use God as their reason to torture and kill young children?  Or is it the full moon?

Lucky Little Mattie

Ah, and then there’s little Mattie whom I follow on his parents’ web site From the Heart.  I can tell you it is not the full moon that has directed their path.  It is the Son.

 

October 11 – Full Moon

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full moon on a cloudy night

A full moon… an eerie cemetery… and an awesome fog machine.  Oh, yeah.  That’s what I’m talkin’ about.  It will also go well with my pumpkin head man.  He has little battery lights for his eyes that look so cool when it’s dark.  He’s a little skinny because, well, he’s actually dead, so I didn’t think he should be fat.  Nate and I had a great time this afternoon getting him all ready to go.  If you look really closely, you can see the electrical tape holding his hat together.  But from the road it looks just fine.

pumpkin man

I took a little time today and planted a few things in an old wheelbarrow that I have.  It turned out sort of nice.

scarecrow and wheelbarrow

wheelbarrow planter

And… I’ve already got trickers or treaters at my door!

trickers or treaters

This Halloween has been a fun one.  Kate decorated the two pumpkins I brought home with some plastic face pieces.  One is of her and the other is of Logan, her future husband according to Kate.  I don’t think Logan knows this yet.  The night of tricking or treating I will be a vampire.  I can hardly wait.  Even now I vaant to suuuck your blooood!

So unteel vee meet again, enjoy zee full moon!

pumpkin full moon

 

Scaring Darla

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One of my family’s favorite past times is pranking each other.  Some have been just absolutely horrible (Davy) but most are just fun.  Oh, the tales my family can tell on my sister, Darla.  I knew the hand and foot coming up out of the “grave” pic would scare the snot out of her.  (The snot comes running out because a person is crying hysterically or screaming his/her guts out.  Guts come out because the screams are so loud and violent all the guts are pushed up or down… and then out.  I haven’t determined whether it is actually up they come out or down.  Either way,  I have never had to scream my guts out… just almost.)

Darla has not only screamed her guts out and had snot running out but has also been so scared she has wet her pants.  Well, I think that’s true.  I don’t see why she wouldn’t have wet her pants since guts and snot were coming out.  It only makes since that pee would come out along with everything else.  I don’t believe she has pooed her pants, but how could one tell with all the guts?  I do know she has been so scared she has temporarily lost her marbles.  (Marbles/brains/cognitive thinking is totally absent for a short period of time.)

One such occasion was the day I came to get her to go wherever it was we were going.  It was Halloween Day or maybe week, but I had been driving all week with this fake hand and arm sticking out of my car.  (It was just so cool.)

fake hand and arm

As Darla came out the garage door, she could see this arm and hand hanging out the back of my vehicle.  She started screaming and pointing and almost scared the snot out of me!  I was yelling, “It’s fake! it’s fake!”  But she just kept screaming and pointing and, I’m thinking, crying.  Me:  It’s fake!  Dar:  explosive screams.

She finally settled down, and I settled into laughing so hard that I’m fairly certain I did actually pee my pants.  Darla did not think it was that funny.  (But it really was.)

One of her most memorable moments of scared to the point of “flight mode” was the time she came down to the house when the kids were all smaller.  Nate had a fake white mouse that was attached to an orange glove.  (I am dying laughing even now.)  When she came in, I said, “Hey, look at Nate’s little pet mouse.”  She is terrified of mice (as I am frogs) and immediately started screaming.  I said, “It won’t hurt you.  Nate wears these gloves so he can keep a good hold on it.”  (Oh, gosh, wait a minute.  I may have to go tinkle.)  Darla just screams, “Get it out of here; put it up.”

fake white mouse

Which in little boy language is SIC!!  Go get her!  He was chasing her quicker than a mosquito sucks blood. (It is Halloween.)  And she ran all over that house like I’ve never seen her run before with Nate right behind her wiggling that fake mouse in his gloved hand and me yelling above the din, “It’s fake!”  She ran up the steps to the bedrooms and into a closet, slamming the door behind her and holding the knob so no one could get in.

I was laughing so hard.  I mean, really, I truly was trying to help.  It was hard, though, while bent over laughing like a hyena.  I ran right behind them yelling “It’s fake!” as best I could over her screaming “Get it out of here.”  After she got in the closet, I would like to say reason set in, but it didn’t.  We eventually had to confiscate the mouse-glove (Nate did not want to give it up) because, even though by then she knew it was not real, she had already worked herself up into a state (of insanity) and wouldn’t come out until I promised I had put the thing up where he couldn’t get it anymore.

Then there was the time in the shopping mall…

Halloween House

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My little pumpkin family

Ever rode a broom?

Orange and black

We Kin Sin... take that any way you want.

just waiting on the full moon to finish the digging out task!!

One Halloween before James and I got married we went to the cemetery and looked at the tombstones (I know they’re called monuments now, but I love that word) to come up with some ideas for a party we were going to have.  If you’ve never perused cemetery headstones, then you should.  They are so interesting!

We eventually came up with these ideas.  I haven’t used them in years, and thought this year would be just right.  Kate helped get the “bones” out and decorate everything.

Not too fancy; I’m not really talented in the artistic department.  Anybody out there got any cool decorations?  Send them this way and I’ll post them.

Quacky Halloween

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Kate and Ava in the duck towel

My little munchkins after their bath, loving up on each other for the Quacky Halloween post (actually they were just wanting pics made).  They love to get in a towel and have me take their pictures.  This one is the duck towel.

I always can’t resist saying, “Oh, you guys are so cute,” which prompts Kate to tell me to take their picture.  And Ava loves it too.  She does everything Kate tells her for the posing.

It’s all about Halloween here right now.  I was going to take pics of my yard, but didn’t make it home in time.  Those are coming tomorrow.

Have you sent me your pics for the contest yet?  🙂

Pumpkins and Corn = FUN

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Saturday Darla and I took Jack, Sam, Owen, and Maci to Bandy’s Pumpkin Patch.

A cold drink from Bandy's Pumpkin Patch

They have a fantastic corn maze, hay rides, a scene to stick heads in for photos, a big corn gun, two huge slides, a bouncy house, three big round containers for squirming in the corn, snacks and drinks, and PUMPKINS!  It was an awesome day!

Looking for the first point to click our paper

The good folks at the ticket booth give each of us a paper that we have to punch at six different locations throughout the maze.  If we could find them all, we got a button.

Sam pinning his pin on Owen

Darla, Owen, and Maci gave up after the first two finds, so the boys and I persevered for another hour and a half trying to find the next four.  It was tough!  Jack found four of them, Sam found one, and I found one.  Mine was pure accident, just about ran into it.  The boys were thrilled that they got their button because we had a couple of let’s-give-up moments.  Each point had a map that only told us where we were, not where the other points were to be found.

The map of the maze. This shows point #2.

Maci having fun in the maze

By the time the boys and I got out of the maze, my feet hurt and I was pooped!  We ran into a few other kids that were having trouble finding the points as well, so in the end there were six of us yelling back and forth.

Sam thinks he sees something!

We found it! Only five more to go.

We went around several circles; we went through places we had been previously several times.  I have to admit, sometimes the boys would say, “We’ve already been that way, Gigi!”  But I was just so sure we hadn’t!  At one point as we were walking along the edge of the maze we did contemplate for just a moment doing the unthinkable and walking through the corn to the treeline.  I am very glad we didn’t.

And off she goes after the boys

While the boys and I were muddling through the maze, Darla, Owen, and Maci went for a hayride through the pumpkin patch.

Mawmaw, Maci, and Owen on hayride

Maci and Owen stepping off the wagon

Next was a trek through the big barn to go down the big slides, jump in the bouncy house, and sink into corn.

the big slides

Sam in corn

Jack and Sam found the corn shooter.  That was an interesting outfit.  They each got to pick out three ears of corn to be inserted into this big gun.  Then they had to aim for a target out in the field.

Sam hits the target!

Shooting was sort of like playing golf; there was a lot of slicing and hooking going on with that corn when it came flying out of the gun.  Right when you thought it would hit the target, it would go right or left.  Very frustrating… and costly.  Sam got a direct hit and sent the target swinging, so Jack put everything he had in it (not to be outdone by the little brother) but couldn’t overcome the hook and the slice.

Jack taking aim

the target

The only thing left to do was pick out their pumpkins.  Owen already had a wagon full of little pumpkins, about 20, that he had picked out for different people.  When I told him Mawmaw would only let us get one, he pointed to one and said, “But that one was for you.”  The little guy knew exactly which one he had picked out for each person.

final stop of the day - delivering pumpkins

The Week in Retrospect

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There is a little saying that I tell my children all the time, and other people, too, if I feel they need to hear it: “Just give it a year; a lot can happen in a year.”  In that year we have had babies born to lift our spirits, overcome hardship, renewed a marriage… the list goes on and on.

A lot can happen in a week, too.  This past week they were sad events: the loss of my little Boaz and much more importantly the loss of a dad, the dad my children still needed in their lives.  And the little saying just won’t work this time because that kind of loss never leaves.  That kind of loss is the kind in which a person has to learn to live differently:  without the presence they loved.

This week was an emotional week where my children and family met to honor someone they loved, to remember the goodness and the grace of God within him, to pour out loving support.  It was a time where friends of their dad came to tell our children good things about their dad, tell funny stories, and express sorrow.

When I woke up this morning, I was going to hop up out of bed and start right off with the Halloween contest and the goals for the month.  But starting off with remembering the past week was more appropriate.  And then we have to move on because that’s the way life is.  It may take us longer than a year (sometimes a lifetime) to move on, but that we must do.

My grandfather-in-law, Joe Wright,  was a mortician.  He experienced death on a personal basis regularly, not just in his business but through the loss of many of his close, loved, family members.  After the death of his grandson, my husband James, when I was so distraught, he talked with me and said, “Life is for the living.  We have to keep living until we die.”   Not existing, but living.

So this month, I want you to live.  Make the effort to do something you don’t ordinarily do:  exercise? read your Bible? dance? say I love you at least once a day? send me your Halloween photos?

Blessings to you on your efforts.  Send me an update on what you are doing.  Send me Halloween photos.