I Just Hate It When I Make a Mystake

Don't look now but I made a mistake in my last post. Seriously, don't. I've already changed it. It was a spelling error. At first, I thought it must surely have been a typo. Usually, by the time I finish up writing something and post it I am working from my bed. In the dark. With only the soft glow from my laptop screen to light my way. Lately, too, I have been under the influence of pharmaceuticals. A typo it must be. So, you can imagine my surprise just moments ago when I saw the same word spelled incorrectly AGAIN two paragraphs later. Gasp! Utter humilitation set in. I'm a teacher for crying out loud! Besides that, I'm near perfect - or so I have maintained for such a long time in my home it's hard for me to believe otherwise.

I don't know which is worse...making such a flub-up on the internet for all the world to see (or at the very least the 50 people who may sometimes read my blog when they need to feel good about their own family) or the time, years ago, I spelled something wrong for everyone at the school in which I taught to see. Hmmm. That must have been the first mistake I ever made, but it was actually a joke gone wrong.

My friend, a co-worker, came to school one day and informed us of how she decided to clean her husband's gun a day or so before. What she hadn't planned on was the gun being loaded. She found out soon enough, though, when she blew a hole through her mattress. It's a thousand wonders she hadn't killed her dog! Anyway, to rib her a little bit about her unfortunate event I posted an ad for "shooting lessons" on the Coke machine in our lounge, only to spell something wrong on it. Can you imagine? That's almost as bad as this. Well, dear ol' Debbie got even with me the next day when she posted her own ad on the machine...Spelling lessons by Tyla. Again, I'm sure that was the first time I was wrong, so I think I am entitled to at least two in a lifetime.

Rock and Rye

I live in what you might call a dry house, meaning one sans liquor. Some may think us bland but we don't drink, not even socially. Of course, we don't smoke either so some may think us to be downright bores. Just now I had a flash back to Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes" song. Yep, that's me/us, I guess.

A large factor for me in the decision to not imbibe has been my Baptist upbringing (my father is a minister afterall), but aside from that I just don't like the taste. I will admit I once sipped champagne at the country club during a wedding reception and on another occasion tried a taste of some homemade elderberry wine made by Papa, my husband's maternal grandfather. I just didn't find it very appealing, though, which is probably a good thing as I can have a somewhat addictive personality.

So along comes this little bout with pneumonia. Did you know I've been sick? I've only whined about it like a lot. I cannot begin to tell you just how miserable I have felt, mainly due to coughing. Nothing has worked. The syrup the little girl at the local clinic prescribed (prior to the pneumonia confirmation) has done no good and I have eaten my weight in Halls and Ricola, neither being very effective. Same goes for Nyquil and other otc products.

Then someone suggested I try a little rock and rye. This was also suggested by one of my aunts. What? I knew what the rye was but thought the "rock" meant ice. I was wrong. Silly, naive me. Seems people in the good ole days would take rock candy (you know, the kind you can now find on sticks in candy stores) and mix it with a little rye whiskey and this would take care of sore throats and coughs.

Well, for the first time in my life this past Friday night I sat in the parking lot of a liquor store while my husband went in to shop. Of course, we made sure to choose one in a less visible locale in another town for fear students, coworkers, or church friends would spot us.

I can now report that the status quo remains the same. I am still not a fan of alcoholic drinks and I still have my cough. So, if any of you have any homemade remedies for a cough I am willing to listen. My family, bless their ears for having to endure all the hacking, gagging, and wheezing of the past week and a half, would appreciate it.

Sitting This One Out

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did. I felt very blessed to be able to spend another year with my husband, kids, parents and sister's family. I only wish I had felt better. I didn't even go for seconds of my mom's dressing, play one game, or take even one picture the entire time. Pardon my language by pneumonia sucks! Pneumonia is for the birds!

For the past umpteen years John and I have had a tradition of going out early on Black Friday and picking up some things for the kids. On Thanksgiving night, as everyone sits around in a near comatose state from all the turkey and dressing, we go through the sale circulars marking wanted items and discussing strategy. I probably don't have to tell any of you it helps to go with a partner.

More than anything, though, it has always been just a fun time for the two of us being together, laughing at all the other insane people out at 3 o'clock in the morning in line for $4 mixers, etc. and enjoying breakfast at whatever Cracker Barrel happens to be close by when the mood to eat strikes.

Well, thanks to my abovementioned sickness, this was the first year in forever in which we didn't get to enjoy our Black Friday morning ritual. John made a quick run to Wal-mart at 10:00 on Thanksgiving night for a couple toys on a certain boy's wish and returned all frazzled. According to him, it seemed there were twice as many people out than what you'd typically find on BF mornings. He wasn't even able to find a buggy. Needless to say, after picking up two toys he got the heck out of Dodge and was back at my parents' house before they even started selling electronics. It's a good thing, too, or so we've been told, as apparently some were there intent on fighting that night. Can you imagine? Fighting. Over. Sheets. Of course, I guess it could have been worse. Someone could have pulled out the pepper spray.

Not wanting the entire day to pass me by, we did go out to eat (at CB, of course) late yesterday evening and stopped by Belk, Kohls, and Target. I was in each about ten minutes before alerting the whole store of the fact I was there via really loud, really annoying coughing fits and had to leave.

Our last stop of the night was to a liquor store and even that didn't pan out the way I had hoped. I'll fill you in later.

So, how was your Thanksgiving or Black Friday? Did you get to be with those you love and score some deals, too?


P.S. I'm going to hope everything is written correctly. If it's not...oh, well. I don't feel like proofreading.

Happy Thanksgiving

John-Heath the day of his school's Thanksgiving lunch.

I just wanted to take a moment and wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. Even though I still feel really rotten (seriously, how many times can one person cough without cracking a rib or expelling a lung), I have much for which I'm thankful.

Happy Turkey Day, everyone!!!

Thankful

I had wanted to write a post each day in November about something for which I am thankful. After all, it is the month in which we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I haven't done a whole lot of writing about anything this month. So, instead of having shared 3o days of thanks with you, I am only able to share one with you today (and maybe one more tomorrow).

I will go ahead and warn you that I have always done a piss-poor job of expressing thanks and gratitude, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. As I’ve heard my father say many times about himself, “I can never quite get out of my mouth what’s in my heart.” Like father, like daughter.

This year, I am thankful for a couple named Gene and Betty.

If there are two people who have loved me unconditionally for the entire length of my existence it would be my parents. Where, oh where, would I be without them?

Having parents who, while knowing what a financial hardship it would create, decided that my mother should not work while I was in school was/is such a blessing. Of course, with only my father working we were what some would call poor, though I never knew it at the time and still have a hard time realizing we were.

The reason I never knew it was because our home was clean, my clothes were clean, there were always three good meals prepared (minus lunch on days when I was in school) which were eaten as a family at the table. And though they have a different house today, we still eat at that same table when mom cooks.

I know now that my parents were constantly making sacrifices so that my life would be good. They had to have been. I wonder at times what they gave up so that I could have braces and not feel embarrased by crooked teeth. Braces have never been cheap and my father has never been one to use a credit card, so one or both of them had to go without something.

I remember, too, all the times my father would wait around to take me to school on days when I didn't want to wait for the bus and my mother watching after me from the door of our house on days I decided I would wait at the corner to catch the bus.

Do you know how many kids don’t have this today, how many there are that actually go home and wonder if they’ll have something to eat or if there will be someone there when it’s time to go to bed or if there will be someone to get them up and ready for school in the morning? It was only when I became a teacher that I realized that not all children are blessed to have parents like mine.

For the first four years of my career I taught in a neighboring town. Driving to workl one day I passed a mobile home park which was within a quarter of a mile of our school. It was raining buckets, one of those icy cold rains. Standing at the corner of a trailer, soaked from head to toe, and without even a coat, was a little girl no more than five. My heart sank. I wanted to stop and get her but as a young, new teacher thought the better plan of action would be to hurry and alert the principal. She and the guidance counselor were at the child’s home within 3 or 4 minutes. The little girl was just waiting for the bus. Her mother? In bed asleep.

Later, as a third-grade teacher I would have my students take home a nightly folder and return it to a basket on my desk each morning. I cannot tell you how many folders absolutely reeked of cigarette smoke every morning. Now, Ill admit I am no fan of smoking but that is not the reason why it was like fingernails down a chalk board whenever I would do my daily folder check. Many of these same folders belonged to children whose pants or shirt sleeves were several inches too short, children who came to school in the dead of winter with no coat or socks, who rarely had a snack to eat at snack time, and so on and so on. To those responsible for these particular children's welfare, affording a carton of cigarettes was more important than whether or not their children were warm or clean or had clothes to fit.

As I said, it wasn't until I was grown that I was fully able to appreciate everything that was done for me throughout my childhood. So this year as always, I give thanks that I had, and still have, a Godly man and woman who realized what it meant to be parents, parents that put my needs ahead of their wants.

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. I Timothy 5:8

Pneumonia...Well, It's Certainly "Neu" to Me.

Hello, friends. It's been like forever since I have posted. Sorry for that. Makes me mad, too, 'cause I had a lot of good ideas for Thanksgiving that I wanted to share.

Anyway, thanks to a nice little bout with bronchitis that managed to work some magic and become a nice little bout with pneumonia, I have been somewhat under the weather lately. Actually, I have felt like crap for much of the past 6 days. And just when I thought I couldn't be anymore out of shape, the constant coughing of the past week has, in addition to nearly bruising every rib in this girl's cage, revealed yet another area that needs to be strengthened. Hint: Dr. Arnold Kegel devised exercises to help.

Here's a little recap, though, on some of the better parts of the last several days for all of us here at Tire Swings. I'll break it down by person.

Tyla

I finally wrapped up our school book fair. Book fairs can be like yard sales. They almost always seem to be more trouble than they are worth while setting up and packing up, but do bring in a bit of spending money once all is said and done. This year's fair, surprisingly, did a little better than last - which is a good thing. The money I receive from my district was cut in half and books aren't getting any cheaper, so we need some spending money.

John

With each passing day we all age. This is most evident in my husband when he begins to watch t.v. in the evenings or read a book sitting in bed. Five minutes into either and he is asleep, as he is about to be now (it's actually around 11:30 even though the post will be time-stamped from earlier this morning).

Ren

After a busy week of attending ACT prep classes in the afternoons at school, she placed in a pageant held in a neighboring town. She is now the 2011 Miss Holifest 1st runner-up. We're going to get as much mileage out of her white dress as possible. She also received her class ring and scheduled her driver's exam to become a full-fledged driver. More to come on these last two events later.

John-Heath

This past Thursday, he and John stopped at a local bbq joint to eat (Ren and I were well on our way through a Twilight marathon and Breaking Dawn premier at the closest theater with a bunch of friends, arriving home at 3 a.m. Trust me, I paid dearly for that the next day). Never one to meet a stranger and someone who has almost an obsession with any profession which requires a uniform (you name it...doctor, firefighter, policeman, train conductor, janitor, etc.), he waltzed right over to a table where a group of police officers were eating. John said they invited him to eat with them and, from where he sat, thought our boy had a grand ol' time.

He must have made an impression because the following Monday a special gift was forwarded to him via the school resource officer at John's school...a whole bunch of uniform patches and stripes. He was absolutely thrilled to get them and immediately asked me to sew them on his shirt. Instead, I think we may make a bulletin board to frame them because his little size 7 shirts wouldn't hold all the ones he now has in his collection (from 3 states and several cities). Some kids collect stamps. My son collects uniform patches.

Oh, he has also learned how to look up numbers in the phone book. The first one he found? His teacher's. He even wrote it on a card to keep handy. So, you might want to start screening your calls, Ms. Timberly.

On 11/11/11...

...I had quite a successful second day of this. It is my library's main source of fundraising each year.

...I got to eat a school cafeteria Thanksgiving meal with this swell kid and his dad.

...I watched a parade to our heroes and capped off the evening watching Band of Brothers: Episodes 7 and 8. If you are a vet or the family member of a vet, thank you for your service and sacrifice for our country!

...I realized the next time the date on the calendar shows 11/11/11 few people around today will be around then. I wonder if people will still blog then?

Pond Monsters...Sometimes Scaring Your Children is a Good Thing.

I don't quite remember where or when I first saw the 1954 horror classic The Creature from the Black Lagoon. For some reason I think it may have been with either of two friends in high school, Chena or Shelena. Okay, now that just made it sound like I only had two friends in school. Never fear. I had at least four, for sure. Anyway, Chena and I were always renting and watching scary movies, but I can also remember going to Shelena's and watching them on a few occasions, one of which lasted a couple days in a row due to a snowstorm that hit. Speaking of renting movies, I remember early on when you had to rent the actual VCR on which to watch them! If you wanted to spend a flick-filled weekend you made sure to be one of the first customers in line on Friday afternoons, otherwise you were just out of luck.

Sorry, I digress. As I was saying, I don't remember the exact time I first saw it but I do vaguely remember being somewhat unimpressed with its fear factor. Chainsaw-wielding, inbred Texan? Scary! Lizard with the hots for a girl? Not so scary! But that was just my opinion. At least, I think it was.

Flash forward about 23 years...John, the kids, and I are preparing to move into our newly built home on the back of his family's farm, and we are all thrilled! We would not be so cramped anymore and we would have a large yard with no immediate neighbors and the kids would be able to play and roam. Everything about moving to a new place brought smiles to our faces, except one...the pond.

Located a mere two hundred feet or so from the right side of our house (as you are facing it), and at the bottom of the slight hill on which our house sets, is a pond. It's been there for years, even long before I married into the family in 1988. And until I knew that I would be living within a few feet of it with a two-year-old son who loved to run and play and climb and jump and showed no fear of anything, I had never given it a passing thought. Causing even more restless nights was the fact that our house would have nine doors opening directly to the outside, so if I was in the front of the house, he could just escape through any number of doors at the back of the house. Even being secured with umpteen sensors brought little peace of mind. Have I mentioned my son the Carl Lewis of toddlers?

We decided the only thing to do was to make it a place he did not want to be, at least alone. Enter pond monsters (and when you say "pond monsters" you must say it with a dreadful tone). We made our son believe there were monsters living beneath the murky waters of the pond and that they only came out when no adults were around. Thankfully, it worked. Of course, we were helped out a lot by two things.


First, was the picture you see at the top of the page. It is one of the framed 8x10 movies scenes we have in our media room. As we were hanging it John-Heath wanted to know what it was and we told him. It didn't take him long to make the obvious leap to our pond and what kind of creatures were in it.

Shortly thereafter, on one of the first evenings of living in the house, we were sitting on the back porch enjoying everything that comes with residing in the county...peace, quiet, fresh air. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a bull frog, a large one by the way it sounded. John-Heath's head perked up and turned in the direction of the pond. With eyes as big as saucers he softly said, "pond monsters." Not only did those monsters have a face, they now had a voice. It would be a long time before he would sit with us on the back porch again.

As a very grown up six-year-old he's pretty sure we were just kidding about those monsters. I know there are probably people out there who would think what we did bordered on some form of child abuse. However, given the choice of a son who was mildly fearful as a child versus a drowned child who fearlessly marched right off a bank into the water, I'll take a little monster-motivated apprehension any day of the week and twice on Sundays!

Media Room Cabinet Redo and Tour

If you have followed along with me long enough you may remember this. It was to be one of my/our first attempts at buying an outdated piece of whatever and turning it into an awesome piece of usefulness! The jury's still out on the quality of our work (it was, afterall, our first time doing something like this) but I can proclaim with 100% satisfaction it has become a useful piece. My favorite part? It's wood. Real wood. I miss real wood.

When we were builidng our house we decided the bonus room was just too big/long for one room so we partitioned off the end of it to create a media room, and since that time some of our poor audio-visual equipment has been on the floor. I have said a thousand times I wish we had thought to build a double-wall in the back of the room (behind the sofa) in which we could add a built-in shelving unit. However, if memory serves me correctly, because of the very lengthy process of building our house we were not thinking clearly about some things during certain stages. I recall at the time saying, "we'll just buy a little cabinet for the stuff." Almost four years later we finally found a little cabinet.

In its day it was a Magnavox stereo cabinet. After a little sprucing up with some black paint, hammered nickel spray paint for the hardware to give it a bit more modern look, and a piece of painted plywood to replace a shelf made of some type of woven fabric on the inside we finally had a home for some of our equipment. I think I heard my blueray player breathe a sigh of relief.

I wish I had some better pics for you. I'm afraid these didn't turn out so swell. The walls in this room are not nearly so gray in person.

And while I am showing off my new little chest I thought I'd go ahead and give you a tour of part of our media room, which John-Heath called the moonie (movie) room when he was smaller. It's not very fancy but we really enjoy using it, especially in the winter and during times we're off from work and can stay up late. Lately, we've been going back and watching episodes from the Band of Brothers mini-series. We're big history buffs around here.

Before we moved in John purchased 8x10s of some of our favorite classic movies to frame for the walls. We have King Kong, Creature from the Black Lagoon (John-Heath called him a "pond monster and he was instrumental in helping us keep our toddler son from getting too near the ponds on our farm), Indiana Jones, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and, of course, Gone with the Wind.

You recognize this one, don't you? You don't? It's Eighty Acres of Hell and that goodlooking rebel on the far right just happens to belong to me. Yep, it's John. This was for a documentary about a Civil War prison which aired a few years ago on the History Channel.

Any requests for an 8x10 autographed glossy should be emailed to me. ;)

Linking up with Kim over at Savvy Southern Style and Maryann at Domestically Speaking. Check out these blogs for some really great projects and ideas.

Santa Baby, Forgot to Mention One Little Thing...

a barn.

I don't mean one for cows.

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight!

I know...I'm rushing the season, but if I could have my pick of any monetary gift this season I think it would be this barn, which happens to be situated in the side yard of a pretty swell house not too far down the road. I love it!

The way I see it, John needs a place to write (his dream of the past several years has been to be the next David McCullough) and I need a warm, cozy, folksy place to have parties - Ren's fall flings and family Christmas get-togethers would be AWEsome in a place like this! Yes, a barn can be warm and cozy. I know for a fact it can. I have a cousin who hosted many Christmas parties in one and I've told John on more than one occasion that that would be my dream...to one day have a great barn!

I would make the windows larger/longer on the front, replace that side porch roof with more of a pergola, and there would have to be a fire pit somewhere close by outside and a large, stone, woodburning fireplace on the inside with a beautiful Christmas wreath, made from real pine cuttings and decorated with a simple red velvet bow, hanging above it.

Of course, to pay for such a barn I would probably have to rent it out for events soooo much that I would never get to use it myself.

One can dream, though.

P.S. And if the dream ever does come true, you will all have to come over and help me celebrate that first Christmas. I promise to keep the cover charge low ;)

Halloween Recap – Part 3 Assessing the Holiday: Things I Applaud and Things I Boo.

Okay. This will be my last Halloween post. I promise...I think.

Because I can be, well, somewhat opinionated I thought I would make a little list of things about Halloween that I truly enjoy and things that get under my skin, and because I am a blogger, well, that makes my opinions worth reading. Right? Are you still there, reader?

Things I Adore About Halloween

Children in Costumes
Tell me. Are there many things sweeter than children dressed up as ballerinas and ladybugs, pirates and cowboys? I think not. And, by the way, my favorites are always the handmade and/or crafty ones. $4, a trip to the local Goodwill, and some hair paint and you’ve got yourself a Beetlejuice! Seriously, a friend’s son dressed as this and it was amazing! It was like I was looking at pictures of Michael Keaton.

Schools that Allow Children to Dress in Costume
Thankfully, my son’s school is tolerant of children being children and allows them to wear their costumes to school on Halloween.

Decorations
Mums, shocks of corn, pumpkins, and fall leaves. Is it a coincidence that these wonderful creations in nature are each at their best at the same time of the year? Again, I think not. There is no better designer/decorator than God.

Traditions
Old and new ones, Trick-or-Treating, Trunk-or-Treating, a plastic orange pumpkin ready to be filled with candy, porch lights that are on, real carved pumpkins, making treat bags for the school party, visiting with friends, supper with family, and, yes, even toilet paper hanging from my trees and my kids on a sugar high for a day or two.

Things About Halloween That Are Like Nails Down a Chalk Board to Me

No Costume, No Candy
There is no welfare system in Halloween. If you want some candy, you need to work for it. Dress the part. Put forth some effort. Teens and young adults of the world (and even old adults), I will gladly honor Halloween and give you candy when you knock on my door, but only if you honor it by dressing up as something other than a “teenager”. Pretending you're Bella Swan won’t cut it either unless you have a pale, sparkly Edward on your arm.

Tacky Costumes
Yes, I am speaking to you, unwed teen mother who showed up at the CHURCH-SPONSORED trunk-or-treat a few years ago with a midriff shirt on and had your large, about-to-pop belly painted as a pumpkin! Same goes for people attending this same event dressed as THE DEVIL! Enough said.

Schools that Won’t Allow Costumes on Halloween
Come on now, really? As a teacher, I'm all for learning. However, must we be so test-crazy that we refuse to let kids be kids just a few times during the year or so scared of a lawsuit from the parents of the one kid in school who finds it offensive? Relax a little. Take a break from the rigidity of paced lessons or, better yet, study about the holiday. What a novel idea! And for those of you with perpetually jerking knees, buck up and grow a backbone! The other 99.9% of children have rights, too, you know.

Decorations
For the love of all that is good and decent, pleeeeaaaasssseeee take down your Halloween -themed yard decorations in a timely manner. If you are going Christmas shopping for early bird specials the day after Thanksgiving and you walk by the twenty-foot high inflatable ghost in your yard on the way to your car, there are some priorities MIA. This is true of all holidays, though. Christmas lights hanging above Easter eggs are also just as wrong. On the other hand, pumpkins, unless they have facial features, corn and mums are permissible throughout November, so says me.

Trunk-or-Treating
What? Wasn’t this on the good list? Yes. Yes, it was. Here’s the thing, though. I have no problem with Trunk-or-Treat. In fact, I love it, think it serves a great purpose as a community event, and have taken my children to the one in our town for a few years now. It provides a good alternative for people who are new to town, live outside of town or in unsafe neighborhoods, etc. It can also be a type of ministry when done by churches. My problem with it is this...I do not like it when it is in lieu of real trick-or-treating. I miss neighborhoods with porch lights aglow and the sound of crunching leaves and acorn tops under the feet of children walking through yards. Now, especially when your town declares that the night of the community Trunk-or-Treat will be the night of official celebration, most lights are off because most people are lined up in town. I just think it’s kinda sad. And since I am a nostalgic person I say, “Town of Tyla, make the Saturday before Halloween the Official Trunk-or-Treat Event and celebrate Halloween on Oct. 31!” Remember, I’m a blogger so what I say counts for something. Doesn’t it? Are you still there? Hello?

Halloween Recap - Part 2

Finally, it was time for the big night! After running his coat through the washer to remove the grass stains and chocolate milk that hitched a ride home from school, it was time to get all dressed up again. He agonized over letting me touch up his moustache. Someone had laughed at him at school. “Because it’s funny", I said. I don’t think he was buying the “they were laughing with you not at you” explanation, though.

We made most of our normal rounds before heading to my sister’s for our family’s annual Halloween dinner and marshmallow roast. Some of our friends, however, did not have their porch light on when we passed so I am assuming they celebrated earlier. The night before. On October 30.

After stopping by to see John’s sister and mother we went to Ms. Susie’s and Mr. Joey’s (formerly aka “Halloween Man” to John-Heath because Halloween was the only time he was ever around him). Ms. Susie’s parents live next door and were outside when we arrived so he was able to trick-or-treat there, too.

This little trip to the Turner Station community is one of our most favorite stops. It’s also one of our longest, as we go in and visit for a while. Susie and I catch up on gossip, Joey and John discuss an assortment of different topics, and John-Heath just prowls. I’m just surprised he hasn’t asked to use their restroom yet to see what’s in their medicine cabinet.

Susie’s home is always so warmly decorated for the holidays it needs to be in an edition of Country Living. I really do love going there – even if she does have the cleanest, slickest floors known to man and I have come close to having my backside meet the hardwood many a time sliding across a braided rug. Of course, it doesn't help that I am the clumsiest person known to man.

During this year’s visit John-Heath slipped out the front door and was gone for a few minutes. When he returned it didn’t take long to realize where he had been when he tried to speak with a mouthful of candy. He had paid a return visit to Susie’s mom and dad seeking more candy.

Then as we loaded up in the car to leave, he hinted to Joey that Ren (who had sat in the car the whole time because she is sixteen and sixteen-year-olds are grumpy and whiny and too old for such nonsense) would like some candy. Joey, easily one of the most obliging men you could ever meet, went to get some, only to hear John-Heath say when he returned to our car with the candy, “She doesn’t need it so I guess I’ll just keep it.” Have I ever told you what a big sweet tooth my son has? It’s a good thing he regularly practices oral hygiene.

At this point it was roughly six o’clock. We were expected at my sister’s at 5:30. Sounds about right. However, we had one more stop to make – Ye Old Tyme Fudge Shoppe. Actually, it was my friend Jean’s house. She always treats her visiting spooks (and their parents) to her homemade fudge. We have gone since Ren was in Jean’s first grade class. Mmmmm! Chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, which is my personal favorite, and orange creamsicle fudge, which tastes a lot like an orange push-up. I’m not sure what we’re going to do when John-Heath gets too old for trick-or-treating. Maybe Jean will take pity on us and allow us to still stop by. I’d gladly don a costume for it.

Finally, we arrived at my sister’s. I always like to get a picture of John-Heath and “the boys” in costume together. “The boys” are my great-nephews and are always referred to as “the boys” by John-Heath. “The boys” weren’t in costume. They were in costume on Sunday night. October 30. The night before Halloween. Because my town officially celebrated on Oct. 30.


My sister had made Taco Soup, which was delish, and we had hotdogs and chips, an orange Halloween cake, and smores, and I got all domesticated and made EVIL EYE CUPCAKES (and a few that turned out looking somewhat like turkeys).







Ren and I did too many imitations of Damon Wayans’ Major Payne character for my nephew and his wife, who said they would pray for us. Really, though, aside from a little, I will admit, salty language, parts of this movie crack us up.

PAYNE: What's the matter, boy? Are you deaf or just plain stupid?
RED-HEADED KID (trying to be helpful): Actually, sir, he is deaf.
PAYNE (to red-headed kid): Oh, I'm sorry. NOW DROP down AND GIVE ME 25 MORE FOR SPEAKIN’ OUTTA LINE!

All in all, this Halloween was great - both nights of it...but we're not nearly as wild and out of control as the above picture suggests.

Halloween Recap 2011 - Part 1

Dr. John-Heath waiting for Trunk-or-Treat to begin.

Welp, it’s November 1 and you know what that means, another October 31 has come and gone. Have I told you how much I enjoy Halloween? I do. Bunches.

With some buddies,...

So, here’s my recap - and let me go ahead and apologize for its length (I will probably have to do it in two, maybe even three posts). It’s mainly a diary entry for my kids to one day read, but if you are a glutton for punishment, enjoy watching other people’s vacation footage and looking at their pictures (like the author of this here blog), or are stalking me go ahead and feel free to take a peek.

...his cousin Makayla

This year, because of what I thought at the time was a really dumb decision on the part of my town to - and I quote - “officially celebrate Halloween on Sunday, October 30 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.”, the holiday became a two-day celebration for my family and many of my friends.

In all fairness to those in charge of the local update to the calendar, I somewhat understand what they were thinking…since our chamber and one of our churches were sponsoring Trunk or Treat on Sunday evening, it would just make sense to go ahead and let our citizenry get all Halloween related frivolity out of its system.

...and a stylin' dude.

As I said, I understand what they were thinking, I just don’t agree with it. There was no way my family (excluding my husband who is not known for his celebratory nature anyway) was going to go without reveling in a good dose of Halloween fun on the actual day of Halloween! I can’t complain too much though. The change enabled us to get more “wear and tear” from John-Heath’s costume. In all, he wore it for three events.

Ren helping out at Trunk-or-Treat.

There was the Sunday evening Trunk or Treat. And boy, let me tell ya, offer free candy and people come out of the woodwork! I think the population of my small town more than doubled that night. I don’t know if we’ll go back next year, though. I am highly sensitive to smoke and, as luck would have it, the family in front of me decided they would pass the time waiting for the event to begin by smoking. A lot. Into my face. So, until an ordinance gets passed that keeps people from lighting up in the park, I may have to sit that one out.

You never know who'll turn up at TT. John-Heath with his principal (l) and teacher (r).

And while I am on the subject of a smoke-related topic, let me just say that our civil defense is awesome!!! Not only do they stand ready to help out in many a true crisis, whether it be a fire, automobile accident, or plane crash, they were more than willing to help me with a fashion emergency. As a doctor, John-Heath needed a pair of gloves (he was down to one blue one). John stopped at school and borrowed a pair from the nurse’s office. No good. They were clear and wouldn’t show up. That’s when I said we needed to find an ambulance or fire engine. Voila! The civil defense! Bless their hearts they even tried to find a smaller pair to better fit him (their idea, not mine…I know not to look a gift horse in the mouth).

After a tasty meal at our Mexican restaurant, where Ren acted embarrassed to be seen in her Minnie Mouse costume after only being seen by 4,000 people earlier at the park, it was time to head home.

The next day was party day at John-Heath's school! It was the most calm, disciplined school party I have ever attended. God bless my son’s teacher. I love her. I really do. Not only for how much my son loves her and for how much he is learning, but for the control she exhibits and commands. With the tapping of her fingers children sit. I, on the other hand, sometimes feel I launch into an Estelle Costanza routine when trying to get someone (mainly, in my house) to listen to me. GEORGE LIKES THE BANANAS!

This is the only pic I was able to get of him at school...passing out his chips and treat bags. He would dutifully ask, in a hushed whisper, each classmate to indicate what kind they wanted and they would point to the picture on the back of the bag. Then he would search for the desired chips. My boy and the rest of the kiddos did this with near perfect precision. It was as if I was watching one of those silent drill Marine platoons.

To be continued...

PS I Haaaaatttteeee BLOGGER! Please forgive the ridiculously spaced pictures and text!