Haunted Houses

I loved visiting the special haunted houses at Halloween when I was young. You know, the ones set up by the rec councils and other such groups that were open for only a weekend or two.

When we were too young to drive, my neighbors would load their car up with neighborhood kids and take all of us around to the 3 or 4 best ones in our area. Then, after we were under our own power, my best friend and I would map out how to visit all of them (about 6) in one weekend. It was a tight schedule but we managed. My niece always begged to go with us and each year and we tried to take her. She was a jumpy kid and was always terrified BEFORE we even went in! She usually backed out of it just as we'd get to the entrance after standing in line for a long time. One of us would have to stay outside with her while the others trekked through.

I remember taking her to one that we considered "the best of the locals". She swore she was good with it and was right up to the doorway. She simply froze up and wouldn't move. (She was about 10 at the time.) We had been in line for almost an hour and were really unhappy with her doing this, again. Just then she recognized one of my friends who was working there as "Death". He was "warming up the crowd" while they waited in the long line. It was a great costume but she knew it was Michael and was satisfied to stay with him. We laughed that she was too scared to go through with us but was willing to stroll around outside holding "Death's" hand!

I don't think she has ever gone through one even to this day (decades later). Ironically, she loves to read horror novels and watch terrifying movies. One of her favorite authors is Stephen King! Go figure!!

In the spirit of haunted houses, I offer up this memory of haunted houses and ghost hunting:

National Chocolate Day

National Chocolate Day!!!!

All right!!! I can get down with this! Thanks Paula Deen for letting me in on this fact. I wouldn’t want to wake up tomorrow and find I’d missed it!! (I’d probably have to console myself with some chocolate.)

I think maybe it should be National Chocolate WEEK , don’t you?
Of course, I wanted to commemorate this day in an appropriate manner.

I thought about gathering the troops to make candy but they said it was just too short notice. (I swear, we cannot share the same genes. I mean, chocolate should trump all, shouldn't it? My Mom would be so ashamed of this younger generation!)

The Big Guy fully understood and helped me eat part of a bag of Hershey Miniatures today. (We can always get something else for those pesky Trick or Treaters! )

Only problem is, now I'm still in a chocolate kind of mood. The guys went to bed and I sat here digging through my recipe collection while watching the TV, trying to find just the right, chocolatey, quickie item that I could whip right up. I settled for throwing a box of brownies together during commercials.

The boys should be happy in the morning when they meander into the kitchen and find this surprise. I don't get up until after they leave in the morning as they are up and out long before 6! (For those who are now really concerned about our household, let me clarify. They are grown men, not children. They do much better without my interferene in the morning.)

Now that I've put chocolate into your mind, too, let me share a few great chocolate quotes.

• In the beginning, the Lord created chocolate, and he saw that it was good. Then, he separated the light from the dark, and it was better.
• I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process. It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?
• Exercise is a dirty word...Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate!
• I don't eat candy bars with nuts in them. Nuts just take up space where chocloate ought to be.
• "All I really need is love, but a little choclate now and then doesn't hurt!" - Lucy Van Pelt

I'll leave you with this one piece of advice:

Put "EAT CHOCOLATE" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

Two months !!!!

OH NO !!!! Do you realize CHRISTMAS is only TWO months away ????

I'M NOT READY !!!!!!!

I mean, I'm REALLY not ready - not for the holiday itself or for the prep necessary to have my shop ready. I'm waaaay behind. I swore this wouldn't happen this year but here I am, two months to go with all these holiday plans swimming around my head and not in the shop. Doesn't matter what excuses I can come up with, I have simply dropped the ball once again. It's time to scramble.

O.K., I need to take a few minutes (only a few minutes) to formulate a crisis plan with regard to preparation.

**Tops on the list must be finishing the orders I need to get out of here tomorrow. Whew, those are ready to go in the box and head for the Post Office!

**Second, I need to clean up the shop. You know, get my existing listings in order. Tweak the descriptions, photos, etc. and rearrange the order they appear in. (Halloween merchandise can drop to the bottom if I choose to even leave them in the shop.)

**I need to check the "inactive" section of my shop to be sure all holiday merchandise that is ready to move has been relisted. Something I recently learned was that by redoing the whole listing on these items and making it a "new" listing, Google bots like it more than simply "relisting." Apparently, getting a new URL pops it right up there for their attention. (When you simply relist, the item keeps it's old URL.)

Next, I need to paint, paint, paint and produce, produce, produce so that there will be plenty for that mob of customers to pick through.

I'm off to get those paint brushes moving!!!

Talk at you tomorrow!

A lazy Saturday...

We had a late night last night and so, a slow start today.

Basically, we've pretty much vegged out for the whole day. Did some competitive sodukos (It's a "couple thing" we do.) and I did some painting while The Big Guy napped a bit.
Late in the day, we managed to catch the Sandra Bullock movie, The Blind Side on HBO. This is something we wanted to catch when it was in the theaters but just didn't make it. I should really have referred to it as the Quinton Aaron movie because he did an absolutely fantastic job !! The movie is based on the true story of the Ravens' Defensive Tackle, Michael Oher's transformation from homeless (read "family-less") child to star football player for Ole' Miss and valued member of a leading NFL team. We were even more interested in this as we are big Ravens fans and Michael has proven to be an integral part of this years action. The story itself is extremely touching as a wealthy couple, Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy, played by Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw, take an interest in a quiet gentle giant of a child from the streets. Leigh Ann takes the time to discover a very intelligent and sensitive young man hiding behind a serious reading deficiency that, along with life's cruel circumstances, has caused this young man to attempt to quietly fade into the woodwork. Turns out, he is a force to be reckoned with once you place a ball in his hands and turn him loose on a playing field, although he needed a bit of encouragement to overcome his gentle nature to fully embrace the action of a tackle!

Have tissues handy, this one will touch your heart.

And the winners are...

I've been giving stuff away, lately!!

In the midst of a busy weekend, I'm just taking a few moments to announce some lucky winners!!

I've recently participated in two fairly sizable give-sway promotions - Blogmania in September and the Autumn Harvest Extravaganza just last week.

Jennifer of the Me and I Corner blog won my Hungry Kitty apron as part of the Blogmania give-away. (If you like the apron, it is still available in my shop, Splashin.) Your apron is on it's way, Jennifer. I hope you enjoy it.

* By the way, Jennifer is an avid reader of romance novels and her blog is a treasure trove of book reviews. Beware, some are quite adult-oriented!

Most recently (last week), Charlene of North Carolina was the lucky winner of my crocheted Halloween Trio simply by taking part in the Autumn Harvest Extravaganza over at The Nuthouse. Charlene is looking forward to giving these soft, safe and cuddly toys to her little boy. they should arrive in North Carolina by the beginning of the week, Charlene.

Stay tuned for announcements of upcoming give-aways featuring some of my products. everyone has a chance in these promotions.

In the meantime, you're always welcome to stop by at Splashin to see what's new in my shop.

Why is it always the woman's fault when men are stupid?

A frustrated female family member sent this e-mail out to the rest of the females in the family yesterday. I know she was looking for sympathy and I did sympathize as soon as I stopped shaking my head and chuckling. The Big Guy began to laugh as soon as I got to the sentence mentioning the "detergent bottle". He could see where this was leading.

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So, in her own words, here is a guest blog (She's asked to remain anonymous.):

I just don't get it...I swear, men were born with a vital part of their brain's short circuiting the vast majority of the time. They say their thinking is based in logic, however, they are clearly LACKING the ability to reason.

My wonderful, always thinking LOGICAL, male version of the species thought it would be a wonderful idea to recycle. Recycling is good for the planet - reduce, reuse, recycle. For him, recycling is reusing an object when its original use is no longer useful.

So, in his ultimate LOGICAL thought pattern, he filled an empty laundry detergent jug with used motor oil (which was, of course, to be disposed of properly at a later date). Apparently, logical thought patterns also follow along the lines of the perpetual procrastinator. My ingenious husband loves projects. He rarely loves to finish them though, and disposing of oil from oil changes apparently falls across the line of finishing a project. So my ingenious and LOGICAL male variety of the species fills the laundry jug with oil and places it outside in the SAME location where my real and actual laundry detergent is often put when we put it down to get in the house on our way home from a shopping trip and is often forgotten. (By the way, he usually does the shopping as well.)

Anyway, I go into the basement to do a load of laundry and, lo and behold, there is NO laundry detergent. My RATIONAL side reasons that he just went to Walmart this week and I bet he forgot to bring in the detergent. Sure enough, there is a whole bottle sitting outside!

I take the bottle down into the basement and start laundry, however, the measuring cap is missing. So I used an opaque cap left from our previous bottle and fill it up. With the opaque cap in use, color is hard to determine. My nose is stuffy due to a cold so I can't smell it, either. Our basement lighting is rather dingy with no light fixture over the laundry area (another one of those yet to be completed projects), so color is really hard to determine UNTIL I pour the capful of masquerading laundry detergent INTO my washer. Turns out it isn't really laundry detergent!

In a phone call to my LOGICAL male version of the species, he wants to know how I didn't notice it wasn't laundry detergent ! He wanted to know how come I didn't notice the smell, color, consistency etc. My list went something like this: It was labeled laundry detergent (There were no markings on the outside of the bottle to signify it wasn't.) It was a thick liquid much like laundry detergent. In dim lighting with an opaque lid, the color wasn't horribly off. I don't sniff every bottle to ensure contents are what is said on the outside of the bottle. It was in the same place laundry detergent is often stored. WHY would I think it is anything but laundry detergent?

I did notice it didn't behave in water the way laundry detergent is supposed to! But in that 10 second time frame of opening and pouring, nothing jumped out at me until it hit the water.

My LOGICAL side said, he poured used motor oil into a laundry detergent bottle with an opening the size of a two liter bottle without dripping!!! My husband can't even manage to pour a glass of milk into a wide mouth glass without spilling. My LOGICAL male version of the species believes if its stuck, jammed, sticking or blocked, FORCING is the way to go. If it slips, slides, or wiggles when it shouldn't, jamming is the way to go, actually poured a liquid into a container without spilling, dripping or making any evidence of a mess!?!

Anyway, anyone have any ideas on how to remove motor oil from a washing machine. By the way, we are OUT of laundry detergent!

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Sure, it was funny! It wasn't MY washing machine or MY husband !

Incidentally, after doing a number of run-throughs with Lestoil, Dawn and regular laundry detergent, she has gotten the machine cleaned out and has successfully run a few loads of laundry without further incidence.

MORAL OF THIS STORY: Always sniff your detergent before pouring. You just never know.

Another TV Icon Lost

Not Mr. C, too!!! It's been a traumatic week.

First, we lost June Cleaver and now, Howard Cunningham (Richie's dad)! Tom Bosley passed today at the age of 83 - another great loss to TV's fine history of parenthood! If you're old enough to remember some of his prior incarnations, Tom also rode herd on Charlie's Angels, was the trusted Father Frank Dowling and kept (or at least tried to) order in Cabot Cove as Sheriff Tucker, among many other roles in his long career. Though he never played the leading man, he was always a trusted and beloved strong supporting character.

Tom, when asked how he'd, like to be remembered, said : "He was a good husband, a great father and a damned good grandfather!" I'm sure he will be greatly missed by many. I know I will think of him often.

Who was your absolute favorite Dad on TV?

I know I'm showing my age but I always adored Steve Douglas (Fred McMurray) on My Three Sons. Never missed it. Funny, on the air from 1960 to 1972, that series has never resurfaced on TV Land, Nick at Nite or other similar stations. If you're too young to remember that series, he was the lead in the original Disney movies The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor and Son of Flubber. (All have since been remade.)

Hug your Dad today if you still enjoy his company. If he's no longer with us, think a pleasant thought about your time spent together.

More wandering around the blogosphere...

My Blogmobile!

Okay, so I've been a good little painter for the last few days and have been producing quite a bit so I decided to take a little time and head out on my blogmobile and check out some more of my Followers' blogs. So settle in friends, I'm going to point out a few you may find interesting. I did. (My list of blogs I read regularly keeps getting longer and longer. I may have to give up books!)

My first stop of the night was to check in on Gleeza's blog to see what she's been up to lately. She's been a busy gal! In a post called The Nanie Pillow, she tells how, to commemorate her late grandmother, she took bits and pieces of some of Nanie's dresses and made patchwork pillows as keepsakes for her mom and aunts!! What a terrific idea!! I wish I'd thought of this sort of thing when my mom passed quite a few years ago. I'm sure they'll be treasured for years to come. Check out that post to see pictures of these beautiful creations. That post includes some instructions should you be interested in trying this for your own memories of someone dear.

After staying there a spell and visiting a number of Gleeza's recent posts, I moved on to drop in on Queen Ginya. Queen cuts right to the chase and gives us some food for thought in a recent post entitled "The tie that binds" and explores the concept of what binds us to who we are, where we come from and how we live our lives. In telling us how she herself is hard wired, she says we'll never see her running a marathon but "you may see me running amok, running scared, running off at the mouth or running off half cocked (??) but a 10K...nope." Brought a grin of self-recognition to my face! Check it out. It will make you think.

Back in September, the Queen did a post called "Acting my age...", she pointed out: "Life is too short to deal with regret." At that point, she related a tale of hesitating to snorkel in public for fear of embarrassment. She overcame that and went on to have an incredible experience. "I was in heaven! If I hadn't got over myself, I never would have had that experience. I decided at that point to not let any chance get away from me again." In an effort to further encourage her readers to live life to the fullest, she says: "Don't let yourself get talked out of enjoying all God's wonderful gifts... sing loud and strong as often as possible, try new and exotic food, dance even if you can't ... cuz (as I've said before) nothing hurts worse than regret."

So true, Queen Ginya!!

Even if it's the wildest thing you do this week, get out there and read a few new blogs. You'll be glad you did!

Another weekend slips by...

We'll miss you, June Cleaver!


I awoke to the bad new this morning, Beaver's mom has passed away. Like all mom's, she was the strength in that household, the glue that held it all together. Oh, yeah, she always "deferred" to Ward's authority but she cunningly steered his opinion around to her views. She never cleaned in old raggy jeans (not that she owned any jeans!). Her hair was always salon fresh, her makeup perfect and, yes, she wore pearls while cooking, cleaning and simply relaxing around the house. She brought "style" to the roles of mother and housewife. Later, we learned she could also speak "jive" ! I mean talk about cool moms!!!

Barbara Billingsley (her real name) would have turned 95 in December. What a wonderful legacy she has left us.

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In other news, did any of you catch that talented 5th grader that played God Bless America on the trumpet at the 7th inning stretch in the NLCS game between the Phillies and the Giants last night? He was fantastic!! So sorry I didn't catch his name. I was watching it on a TV in a casino bar located in Phillies country. This little guy's fine rendition led to a rousing cheer there. At least they were able to cheer for him, the Phillies lost in the 9th. (I may come from Oriole-land but where are they now in October? I had to find somebody to cheer for. What can I say? I do enjoy baseball.) Oh well, that was only Game 1. Maybe they can make a come-back tonight.

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Yesterday turned out to be a fantastic Fall day, though a bit on the windy side. The temps were in the low 60s and the sun was extremely bright. We found ourselves drawn to a festival on the banks of the Susquehanna River and it was absolutely beautiful! We stopped in at Smokin' On The River in Port Deposit, Maryland just to hear a little music and maybe grab a bite to eat on our way to our evening destination.

This was not an official KCBS BBQ competition so we weren't involved in the judging of this Tail Gate Cook-Off. As it turned out, we were recognized and drafted into judging anyway. (The cooks had been promised KCBS judges and KCBS judging standards.) There were 17 talented cook teams that had fought the cool wind all day to produce some high quality ribs and there was an extreme shortage of judges. Turns out we only had 5 certifeid KCBS judges and one "celebrity judge", the St. Pauli Beer Girl ! (The guys voted her in, Big surprise!)

It wasn't in our plans but took only about an hour to sample and score these eats and we were glad to do it. Oh, and The Big Guy was thrilled to pose with the St. Pauli Girl, too!

So, what have I been up to ?

Sorry, folks. I just wasn't feeling very bloggy the last few days.

I was, however, fairly productive. I spent my week sewing, crocheting, hand-dyeing and painting onesies. Some were for orders, some for gifts (like the Pooh bear) and a few were for new merchandise in the shop. Here's a sample of all that was happening on my little work table:
There are still a few works in progress, too. Like this one: Then there was the "accidental painting" - yep, that's a blotch of black paint on my pajama top. One fact about fabric paint : It's PERMANENT. Which explains why I prefer to paint in my pjs each morning. It also explains why I don't entertain a lot while painting, too!

And, yes, they are flannel jammies. It's gotten quite cool here. The Big Guy actually turned the heat on last night because HE was cold!!! (That doesn't happen often.) Ooooh, it felt sooooo good!!!

It is supposed to warm up again over the weekend. I hope so. I'm not ready for coats and such. I don't DO winter. At least not of my own free will.

Here's hoping you have a happy, creative, productive and warm weekend, wherever you are.

***P.S. Don't forget about the Autumn Harvest Extravaganza over at The Nuthouse. My contribution to this huge give-away event will be awarded to some lucky entrant tomorrow. It's not too late to enter and it's really easy to get in on a chance to win any of a number of Fall items.

So, what's "NORMAL" ?

I've been saying "things are getting back to normal" a lot lately. Which brings us to, just what IS "NORMAL"?A lot of us grew up thinking the Cleavers, the Andersons and, later, the Huxtables, were "normal". Then, as we grew up, we found TV shows like One Day At A Time, The Brady Bunch, Good Times and, yes, even, Reba portrayed "normal" to us. My niece particularly identifies with the gang on Still Standing. Roseanne was popular for so long because so many working class families saw themselves there.

Recently, I've really gotten into watching Showtime's series, Weeds. Now, I'm not in any way saying I identify with that family as "normal" but as Season 6 got underway, the family desperately tried to get back into an acceptable normal lifestyle as they resettled in Seattle. Then, as expected things went awry and one of the boys stated, "So much for normal." The mom, Nancy's, response, has become a favorite phrase for me,

"This is OUR normal."

So, yes, things here are getting back to normal - OUR normal. At least for now, we are going about our daily lives in our usual fashion. Our sea is calm. The tide rolls in, the tide rolls out. It feels good. So until another squall blows in, we're just enjoying life.
Here's hoping your seas are calm now, too.

The huge Autumn Harvest Extravaganza is well under way over at The Nutshell. It's a full week of give-aways (I think there are 26 items in all)! You can sign up to win one or all of them. Stop by and check out the great items up for grabs. All have been provided by some really creative Etsy shops and will be shipped directly to the winners by the shop.
My donation to the effort, a trio of crocheted Halloween characters, is set to be won on the 16th but there are multiple items each day through the 17th with a large grand prize at the end. So hurry over there to check this promotion out before you miss out on an item you really, really want!!

Last of the BBQs

Okay, so maybe that "getting back to my regular routine" didn't quite go as quickly as I'd hoped. I've had to recite my "flexibility" mantra a lot these last two weeks!
Things have leveled off a bit and Saturday was somewhat "normal" for us. We judged a BBQ competition and had an opportunity to see some friends that we won't catch up with until Spring and the start of the 2011 competitions. Today, we simply stayed in and watched the Ravens' game. (I concede. Staying "in" on a Sunday is NOT normal in our household!) The Big Guy will go back to work tomorrow as scheduled and, hopefully, things will be a bit calmer this week.

Saturday's judging was the last of the year for us. We'll just have to savor the memories, smells and tastes for a few months. The new season will begin in April which sounds like a really long time away. So much can happen in between.
This last event for awhile was, thankfully, a great one. The Mt. Airy Smoke'n BBQ (in Mt. Airy, MD) was a fantastic KCBS competition combined with a terrific community Fall festival that included music, entertainment, a car show, spaghetti and wing eating contests and even a yo-yo demonstration and lessons by a representative of the Duncan Yo-Yo Company! This was the first spaghetti eating competition I ever witnessed. they could use their hands but no utensils. I only thought spaghetti could be messy before this!

The weather was ideal (I even got a little sunburn! Last of the year I guess.) and a good time was had by all.

The Ravens topped our weekend off with a strong win over the Denver Broncos.

All in all, we had a good weekend!!

Just for Today...

The past week hasn't been one of my best and I've had a lot on my mind, but someone took a moment this morning to make a small gesture that simply made my day and put me in a whole better mood. So,Just for Today....

-- smile at a stranger.
-- drop a coin where a child can find it.
-- tell someone you're thinking of them.
-- learn something new, then teach it to someone.
-- hug a loved one.
-- don't hold a grudge.
-- don't be afraid to say "I'm sorry."
-- look a child in the eye and tell them how great they are.
-- make a promise and keep it.
-- call someone, for no other reason than to just say "Hi."
-- show kindness to someone.
-- stand up for what you believe in.
-- smell the rain, feel the breeze, listen to the wind.
-- use all your senses to their fullest.
-- cherish all your TODAYS.
-- Author Unknown

Go out and have a good day!

Whew! Had to step out to handle an emergency.

Sorry to disappear for a few days but we had a family emergency here and blogging simply had to take a back seat for a few days. Things have settled down quite a bit and I hope to be back into my regular routine from here on in.

To our family and close friends that are regular readers, "Thanks, for all of the calls, thoughts, prayers and offers to help if necessary. It's fantastic to know we have so many people who care about us."

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In the meantime, the good fairies over at The Nutshell were working hard to put together the 1st Annual Autumn Harvest Extravaganza and I am a participant in that great event. It's now up and running and ready to go. Be sure to take time to check out all of the give-aways and sign up for those you'd like to win. Just to celebrate the Autumn season, we're giving away twenty+ individual Fall items starting on October 10. You can enter to win one specific piece or enter the drawings for all of them. Use the button on the left or click here to see all the wonderful give-aways that are happening as part of the Extravaganza.
My gift that will be awarded to some lucky winner is a trio of crocheted Halloween characters. These can be used for decoration or as a baby toy. They are completely safe for even the tiniest of babes, made with soft acrylic yarn with nothing to pull or break off and stuffed with polyester fiberfill. Don't want to wait to win these cuties, they are also available in my shop at Splashin.etsy.com .

Entering to win any of the gifts is a simple as fanning the Facebook page or hearting a shop on Etsy.


Come on, join in the Autumn fun!!!