Happy Halloween!!!!

Heeeeeeeere's Alice!

We did an Alice in Wonderland theme for Halloween this year. It's the first year I've had a sewing machine and I wanted to make the costumes. In my excitement, I picked an overly ambitious costume for myself, which meant I only had time to make one costume. But it sure was fun!

We started out Grace's first trick-or-treating experience at the mall, where we thought it would be safe and fun--plus it was pouring rain outside.

She was pretty nervous right in the beginning, but once she got her first piece of candy she was obsessed. In all the following photos you'll see she's constantly holding some piece of candy up to her mouth.

Scott and Grace were so cute together! It was crowded, but I could always find Scott with that uber tall hat.

After we left the mall it stopped raining so we thought we'd chance a trip around the neighborhood. Grace was adorable. She tried saying trick-or-treat occasionally, but what really took the cake was that she blew kisses at everyone after they gave her candy! She would smile big and laugh and giggle. She loved it! It made me love Halloween on a whole different level, seeing her so happy.

And btw, the Halloween lore is true: rich neighborhoods DO give out full size candy bars.

1 Day: Neighborly Spooks aka the corpses

For all intents and purposes, today is Halloween for us so we will be taking costume pictures and cute baby pictures (providing we have a cooperative baby) so stay tuned for tomorrow!

Today I wanted to pay homage to the amazing neighborhood Halloween decorations. We have several full scale front yard cemeteries, zombies galore, giant pumpkins, a giant blow up haunted house, and even an alien invasion! Alas, I only took photos of one neighbor. Get excited. If you've been a long-time blog reader, you will recognize these neighbors decorations as the corpses. I've shown you how they decorate for Thanksgiving and Easter. I had to assume they'd get Halloween right. I was not disappointed.

First, they had floating dancing skeletons! Pretty cool, eh?

This orange light pumpkin was out for the Thanksgiving post, but now with the addition of the cats and a bat hanging upside down.

If you look past the pumpkin to the front door, you'll see an old man dummy with gray hair. I learned that each year they leave that dummy out all October, then dress in the same clothes, including the mask, for Halloween night and sit out and scare the trick-or-treaters.

And finally, what you've been waiting for, the corpses. They are darned hard to get a photo of with the house post and trees and such in the way.

Witch and Warlock? Plus, look at all those rope lights hanging from the gutter! Maybe we'll have to visit again tonight to see all the lights in action.

There you have it! Happy Halloween!

p.s. comments are welcomed, cherished, encouraged, and I will check every hour and hang on your every word. Just thought you'd like to know :)

2 Days: Haunted Tales

I am disturbed by gore. It's disappointing to me that Halloween is riddled with hideous violence that is considered amusing.

I am intrigued by classic haunted literature. When Scott and I were first married, we purchased a book of the tales of Edgar Allan Poe from an estate sale. The book holds all the more fascination because of its age and mysterious history to us. One of my favorite Poe stories is The Masque of the Red Death. It's a story about the fear of a plague and the selfish opulence of a prince who tried to hide from it. What really intrigues me about this story is the visual depictions it paints with its words about a revelrous melee of color and gross indulgence. I thought of posting it today, but I think it is too long for a blog. I've made the title above a link to an online version of the story if you would like to read it. It's probably a 5-10 minute read.

Instead, I will share a shorter story from Danish lore told by Hans Christian Anderson.

In North Seeland they tell of a dark mystery that challenges one's imagination. The church of Roervig lies far out among the sand dunes by the stormy Kattegat. One evening a great ship came to anchor off the shore. It seemed to be a Russian man-of-war. That night there was a knock at the parsonage door, and several people, armed and masked, demanded that the minster put on his robes and come with them, out to the church. They promised to pay him well, and they threatened him if he should refuse to go. He went.

He found the church lighted. Unknown people were gathered there, and all was in deep silence. A bride and groom waited in front of the altar. The magnificent clothes they wore suggested the highest rank, but the bride was deathly pale. When the marriage ceremony ended, a shot rang out, and the bride fell dead at the altar. The people took her corpse and went away with it. Next morning, the ship was gone, and to this day no one has been able to give any explanation of these happenings.

The minister who took part in it wrote the whole story down in his Bible, which his family has kept to this day. The old church still stands between the sand dunes, near the tossing water of the Kattegat, and the story still lives in memory and in writing.

Do you have a favorite haunted tale?

3 Days: Bringing Halloween to the Grave...

...Literally

p.s. I did not decorate this grave, I found it like this and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share.

4 Days: The Great Halloween Blizzard

This morning we woke up to this:

It's our first measurable snowfall of the season and it's COLD and it's not even Halloween yet!

Halloween and snow in the same sentence always bring back vivid memories of 1991. If you know anyone from Minnesota at that time, they probably share my memories. You see, in 1991 was the historic Halloween Blizzard (cue spooky music). This was a big deal. It still holds records for the most snowfall in one storm. There are multiple wikipedia entries for this single storm. By the end of the storm, parts of Minnesota were under as much as 37" of snow.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Douglas's blog. He's my favorite weatherman ever.)

I remember this year. I was at the peak age of trick-or-treating glee--I was ten. That year was one of the first years I remember not having a hand-me-down costume. It was one of the first years I got to pick what I wanted to be and my mom made my costume. It was thrilling. I was a green M&M.

(Unfortunately I don't have a picture of me. This is not me. This is just for the visual representation. My costume was WAY cooler. I promise.)

For years I had heard trick-or-treating stories from my brother, 3 1/2 years older than me, of walking for miles to get to the rich neighborhoods where they had full-sized candy bars. He'd come home with pillowcases completely full of candy. It was like Halloween lore that I was determined to discover the truth behind.

The snow started around the time school got out on Halloween. No problem, just a little snow. By the time dinner had finished and it was getting dark, a few inches had accumulated. No problem, I'll put on boots. I was determined. I set off by myself that night in my puffy green M&M, cute white tights and purple boots. I think by house #5 I realized it was a hopeless venture. My legs were frozen solid and the snow just kept coming. My dreams of full-sized candy bars would have to wait for another year. School ended up being cancelled for the rest of the week.

I bet when I cued that "spooky music" you thought this was going to be a SCARY story. HA! Gotcha!

The end.

Countdown to Halloween: Day 5

Five days until Halloween! I thought I needed a kick in the pants to get me blogging again so each day until this Sunday I will be posting a Halloween-y post. Hurray! Get excited!

For our maiden voyage into Halloween blogging, I thought I'd share with you my Halloween decorations this year. I got paid to make these for work and get to use them to decorate my house for Halloween. Lucky me.

Next to our four foot hairy spider, I think I like this one best:

These banners are ridiculously easy, but nice and big to cover a lot of wall space. I liked it! However, if I hadn't done it for work I would've picked different fonts. I was trying to showcase how to use a lot of fonts in a single project. I guess it worked, but it's not quite my style.

The tree looks better in person, I think.




The end! Stay tuned tomorrow for another Halloween post. (Cue spooky sound effects.) Bwa ha ha ha!

Heavy Thoughts

If you haven't noticed, I haven't felt much like blogging lately. For the past few months I've been feeling a little apocalyptical. It may be because of the current economical situation, or the expressions of hate in the media, or the fact that our political system is in chaos with no possible way of simplifying... or a combination of all of that and more. I'm not looking forward to November's elections or the media war that bathes every American in its political bloodshed. I'm skeptical that our economy is in "recovery" when my neighbors are still losing their jobs and my company is on the brink of failure.

In my mind, without even consciously planning, I've been preparing myself for worst case scenarios. Suppose our foreign oil suppliers decide to stop their shipments. Suppose there is massive revolt against the federal government and each city or state fends for themselves. Suppose there's a revolution. Suppose there's massive electronic warfare that extinguishes power sources. Suppose the dollar fails completely and all economic commerce as we know it ceases. What would I do in these situations?

In all honesty, I feel like I'd be able to survive. I know how to plant a garden and store food. I'm learning how to grind my own wheat and make bread from scratch. I've even had experience taking care of chickens! I feel like I'm handy with resources I have access to.

One thing that's often left out of doomsday scenarios is the emotional turmoil. Based on current conditions and biblical/religious predictions we know that human trials, pain and suffering will increase. This I don't think I'm ready for.

Lately I feel like there's been a rash of divorce among people I know. The most recent was my next-door neighbors growing up. They are amazing people whom I love and respect and they'd been married for 30 years! Every time I hear about a divorce I feel like someone has died. It's so heartbreaking to me, I'm dysfunctional for at least a day after learning the news.

Another prevalent pain is all the hate expressed about the gay rights movement from both sides. I have friends on both sides and I feel the pain for both sides. In spite of whatever opinion you may hold, there is no need for all the hate.

The political hate is just as unbearable to me. I feel sad for those who harbor so much aggression towards so many. Their hate inevitably includes people who never wronged them or don't hold the opinion that is assumed on them.

There is a painful lack of understanding in the world at large. There is so much selfishness, so much apathy, so much darkness and hate. And it all breaks my heart.

One of the attributes I'm constantly trying to include in my life is charity. Not just the "generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless" as states the first definition in the dictionary. Rather, the kind of charity I'm working on was stated by President Monson: "Tonight, however, I have in mind the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions, the kind of charity that forgives, the kind of charity that is patient.

"I have in mind the charity that impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful, not only in times of sickness and affliction and distress but also in times of weakness or error on the part of others.

"There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, aid to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere."

I want to be like that. I read recently a statement that said, "We cannot really feel charity--Christ's love for others--without at least tasting His suffering for others, because the love and the suffering are but two sides of a single reality." Maybe in my attempts to have charity for others, I'm also feeling their acute pain and suffering. I hope when it comes down to it, and more of my friends and family have hard times and sad times, I will be able to be on their side, always. I will be able to be that "love in action."