Tender Lovelings Everywhere, Life's No Fun Without a Good Scare

Happy Halloween!! This Halloween has been wonderful! I came home from California yesterday evening only to find that Drek had built me a coffin!!! A real, pine board, shaped-like-a-coffin, coffin!! He's amazing!! I have always wanted one as a Halloween prop and he built me one!! He built it by himself, using his own measurements and everything! Best. Husband. Ever.
We went over to my parent's house and ate a Halloween-ish dinner with Kara, my parents and my sister and her family. My sister made her and my niece's Halloween costume this year: Megan was Boo From Monster's Inc and my sister was Sully. The costumes were so great and Megan was sooooo adorable. Megan looked exactly like Boo!! It was so much fun.
My sister had also made these amazing dessert treats. She had carved orange peels to look like Jack-O-Lanterns and filled them with Hot Apple Cider Jello. What a fun treat!!!

This morning I got dressed up in my work-appropriate Halloween costume and had so much fun making it! I took a black shirt and safety-pinned a folded white tank-top down the back. I had a headband with ears on it, and a tail to pin on the back.
To top it off, I had a spray bottle of perfume I would spray at people to add to the effect of my costume. Giggle giggle.

Drek drove me to work and we listened to Nightmare Before Christmas on the way to get into the spirit of things. Work went really well. I was expecting it to be dead because of Halloween, but the morning was busy and we did well. That is, until about 11:30, when the place went dead and there were no souls in sight. I cleaned, got caught up on what I had missed while I was gone to California, and read my Midnighters book, which was a fantastic choice, because the book is building toward midnight on Halloween.

Kara and I hung out and we knitted (she is so fast!! Will I ever be as fast as her?) and she told me a wonderful Halloween Story about how she got the most purple monster in the world.

We went to show of my costume to my sister right before she had to leave, and then we raced back home to have a quick Halloween-ish dinner at y house. It was then time to go to the corn maze!! Rissy came drove the van and we all piled in. There was another Kara, Ismael and Cavan. Alas, the corn maze closes after 6pm on Halloween! So we took some pictures and decided to go to the Scream Asylum.

When we o there, we tried to recruit people to join our "group" if you have 13 people to a group, it's $5 less per ticket. We were successfully! And what's even better, taught the trick to a bunch of girls, who tried to collect their own group. I think the Scream Asylum saw a strange influx of large groups that night.
Anyway, the Asylum was AMAZING!! So worth $10. There was even a 3D part where you had to wear 3D glasses and it was really visually stunning. I loved it!!

After that is was back to Rissy's house to enjoy root-beer floats, lots of candy, and CLUE. Three people in our ever-increasingly large group had never seen the movie all the way through. It;s so much better to watch if you are getting people's first-time reactions.

After the movie Drek and I came home to play with Acouchi and put her in her Halloween costume. Behold: A Cat Burglar!!!



A very good costume if I do say so myself!!

Gasp, and tomorrow is NaNoWriMo!!!

October BAMC: Midnighters

October's Book a Month Challenge was Haunts. How delightful!!

I chose to read the Midnighter series by Scott Westerfeld. The first one is The Secret Hour, then Touching Darkness, and then Blue Noon. The books are about five teenagers living in Bixby Oklahoma who live 24 hours in the day just like the rest of us, but they also experience and extra 25th hour, right at midnight. This hour is full of danger, conspiracy and such. While the rest of the world is frozen for an hour, they are walking about like haunts, enjoying their world, fighting for their lives and searching for answers. Very Halloween-ish. The best book was the second book, Touching Darkness.
I was entirely absorbed by it. The sad thing I, the main character, Jessica, is supposed to be the central character and the most popular, but by the end of the second book I HATED HER!!!! I HOPE SHE DIES A PAINFUL AND HORRIBLE DEATH!!!!! My favorite is Des and Melissa. Even though they hate each other, they are both great.

Anyway, I found this great fan pic:
Very Halloween-ish. Jessica is the ugly red-head in front (don't you just hate her just from looking at her?) Des and Jonathen are to the right and Rex and Melissa are on the left.

I can't recommend these books. I enjoyed reading them but...I don't recommend them to anyone else.

Happy Halloween Eve!

Have You Ever Heard of Autocannibalism? She Actually Ate Herself

In case I haven't made this clear enough, I adore he fact that Kara has moved here. I really hope she is happy, because I am thrilled.

Saturday Krisling, Kara and I went to dinner. We met at the movie theater and decided on the closest sushi restaurant, but after walking in to the place we decided it didn't mesh with our...style. So we went to the next closest sushi place. It was fantastic!! We ate right up at the bar and this small, old Japanese guy made our sushi just for us. It was SO GOOD!! It was fantastic, but at the end of the deliciousness, I was still hungry. It was a problem that could only be solved by a cookie store. NOM!! We went back to the movie theater and watched a movie. The movie was freakin hilarious.

Today after work us "K's" got together for a "knitting class". Kara taught me how to read my stitches. This will save me lots of time and take a lot of the guess work out my blanket. We had a great time.

My wonderful husband invented a card game. Last week Rissy and Ismael came over to test the game. I was shocked out of my socks. The game needs tweaking, but, let's face it, my husband is a genius.

Kara, Drek and I played the game with few modifications. The game is so much fun to play!! I can't wait to see the finished product.

Tomorrow I am off to California!! See you all in a few days!!

Moving at the Speed of Life, We are Bound to Collide With Each Other

One bright day, a woman came into my store. She was a very nice women, but she looked tired and stressed. She explained that her brother was getting married in Las Vegas, and she was driving down to be there. She had come from the city next to my city, and said that her back hurt so bad in that 10 minutes that she had to stop and get a lumbar support really fast. Her husband and kids were patiently waiting in the mini-van. I gave her some options, she chose two, took them out to her van to test them, found one that worked, purchased it, and left.

A few minutes later she came in, looking even more tired and even more stressed. "You don't happen to know who owns that white car in the parking lot, do you?" She asks. Um, you mean Jasmine? "Yes I do, that's my car actually." She had backed up into it. I was stunned that she had come back in to tell me. Kudos to her!! Way to be honest.

She gave me her insurance card, I quickly made a copy, told her it was no problem, don't worry about it, have a safe trip, and sent her on her way. Later that day Drek called the insurance companies and went and got a quote from a repair shop. She only hit the front right side, and she didn't hit it very hard. There were a few small scratches, a dent, and a very broken-in-half light.

I'm thinking the only thing we HAVE to fix is the light. Sure there is a tiny dent, yeah it got scratched up, but who cares? Jasmine doesn't really compete in car shows or anything. I just hoped the light wouldn't cost too much. I was thinking $100, maybe $50, not to much, but in my experience, all car parts are overpriced.

SEVEN DOLLARS!!!!! That's it. $7 to fix the light. Oh, and $200 to replace the panel to fix the dent. $200 to repaint and $400 for labor. Insane.

Their insurance company sent us a check for $807. Seriously? Insurance will pay for such frivolous things but not for my IUD? Crazy. At least Jasmine is well taken care of. Poor baby.

So Drek took poor, traumatized Jasmine into the shop and the guy informed him that the break lights were all burnt out, and oh, did you know your registration expired two weeks ago?? Sigh.

Apparently her tinting is too dark, and now illegal, and they told us they would peel it off so she could pass safety and emissions, but they. . . got lazy? Forgot? Actually did and you just can't tell? Oh well, she passed. All taken care of!! Jasmine is now back to her gorgeous, legally registered self.

I Request the Cone of Silence

The past two days have been fantastic!! I have been having the time of my life.

Monday night Drek took me to a movie. The dollar theater was only playing two movies we had any interest in, and one was slightly more interesting than the other. We saw Get Smart, which was not as funny as I was hoping, but it was still pretty funny, and defiantly worth the $3 we paid to see it. Also, I love watching movies with Drek. He is amazing.

Tuesday work was great. I did Medical Marketing and got a lot done, and then I came back to the store which was fairly busy. It was great! I was picked up by Krisling, Natebot, and Toby. I adore Toby, have I said that already? He is such a cute kid. Anyway, Kris and Nate and I went out to dinner and were served by Deth!! No, really, our waiter's name was Deth. It was kind of scary. The jokes were endless.
We tried to go see Ghost Town, but I was too tired in the end and made Krisling take me home.

Wednesday was the best day I have had in a very long time. I got up early and went running. It has become too cold outside to run outside for long periods of time, to I ran to my mother's house to work out on the treadmill. Before I did, I woke up my cousin who, oh, did I mention? MOVED TO UTAH I AM SO EXCITED YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I ran on a treadmill and she biked on a bike and it was great.
I went home and cleaned the whole house until it sparkled. I then went back to my mom's house, did laundry and helped my cousin move in. I was so productive!! All this by 11am. I went back home, cleaned some more, then Krisling came and picked me up. We picked up my cousin and went off to enjoy copious amounts of Sushi. Toby, we discovered, loves bathing in sticky rice. We had such a great time enjoying sushi and watching Toby enjoy his rice-bath, that we missed the movie. Again. So we went to the mall walked around. Kris bought me some crazy-yummy smelling had sanitizer. It makes me want to eat my hands. NOM!!! Krisling got a new phone. My new phone is still coming. My current phone is very broken. Oh, and lost.

We went home, I finished laundry and hung out with Drek until that night when Rissy, Ismael and Michelle came over to drink hot chocolate, work on homework, and do a schizophrenic, cross-gender version of how to host a murder. It was hilarious.

I went to bed exhausted, but oh-so happy!! Best. Day. Ever.

Tags

Crazy 8's

8 Things I’m passionate about
Drek
Vegetarianism
My religion
Saving the planet
Politics
Stories
Music
Movie Trailers

8 Things I want to do before I die
Spend weeks, at the very least, in Egypt
Go skydiving
Go Hang gliding
Go Scuba Diving
Run a Marathon
Write a Novel
Reach my goal weight
Leave my mark on the world

8 Things I do now
Work
Create dinners
Read
Write
Knit
Hang out with friends
Watch movie trailers
Love my husband

Things I can not do
THERE IS NOTHING I CANNOT DO!!! (If I want to do it)

8 Things I often say
"Thank you for calling (insert store here). How can I help you?"
"What brings you into the store today?"
"Well, there you go"
"Oh, crap"
"Potatoface"
"JTTF"
"Cat!"
"I lost my phone/keys/car/mind"

8 Favorite foods
Fresh Fruit
Lasagna
Fresh Mozzarella Pasta Penna
Pineapple curry
Dried fruit in milk
Spinach, Mushroom and eggs wrapped in a crepe and topped with Hollandaise sauce
Potatoes and egg burrito with green salsa
The tacos we got from the taco stand in Mexico

Sixth Tag

This is the sixth picture in the sixth folder of my pictures:

It is taken by Xirax, my favorite photographer. This is my amazing husband getting ready to spring up and snatch the Frisbee out of midair!! Actually, this picture was taken before we were married.

And now I'm supposed to tag seven people and make them post on their blogs the seventh picture from their seventh file of pictures. So, if you read this, I have just tagged you.

Do You Always Leave it to Porters to Tell You This Sort Of Thing?

Well, October has escaped me. One day October was approaching ever so slowly, and the next day, it's the 20th and October is almost over. What happened? I blame it on the cold weather. I don't think I feel cold like other people do. When I'm cold, it's painful, not just...cold. Whatever.
Last week I woke up with high expectations of the day. I went outside and scraped the frost of the car, froze to death driving across down, gave up on the day and went home to soak in a warm bath all day. Sigh.

I came up with a brilliant costume idea for me and Drek, but alas, I have had not the time nor the talent, nor the resources to make it happen. Yesterday I told Drek the idea, he got all excited and said we should still go for it. So we are. Hooray!! I have seven days to make a very complicated Halloween costume. Only seven because I leave for California next Tuesday. I'm so excited!! It is purely a social visit. I am spending three days with Jordie and Jesse. We're apparently going to a haunted house. I can't wait! I come home the night before Halloween, so our costumes have to be done before I leave. We'll see how it goes. I do have a back-up costume plan, but it is lame.

I'm sad October has gone so fast, I love this time of year. Halloween is one of my favorite hollidays. Looking on the bright side, the best thing about October going so fast is that it's almost November!! November means NaNoWriMo!!! Ialready have my novel all planned out. This year I am so going to win. Bwahahahaa

Saboteur III

Saboteur III was a huge success! At least by my standards anyway. Only two flas ion the whole game: 1) It was so cold. If we ever do Saboteurs past September, they need to be indoors. 2) The lasy questions on the quiz was not a good question. If you were first to take the quiz you would have no idea.
Other than that, it was amazing!! As hosts, we spent Saturday afternoon gathering supplies, testing games and working on last minute details. We packed up the cars and drove down to the park just in time! All pictures and deatils are posted on the Saboteur website, I'm not going to re-post them here.
The weather held put, it didn't starts to snow until we were done. It was a great game.

I Don't Really Think That Saying Was Created To Warn Cats

Today I did not have to go into work until 12:30. Rarely do I ever go to work this late. Drek and I decided to take full advantage of the situation. I woke up this morning a little before 8am, just like I always do. Instead of going running right away, I curled up in bed and read my book. I finished my book. It was good. Only after I finished did I go running. I came home, showered, ate breakfast, read scriptures with Drek, and then instead of going to work, we got back into bed and watched two episodes of House. It was wonderful. I love snuggling with my husband. I love being in bed, and I love House. Also, during this, I was IMing Rissy. We were in crisis mode because Saboteur III is tomorrow, and a player cancelled last night. During the IMing frenzie, I got an email from Nick saying he would play. Bless that kid.

Best Morning Ever.

Castle of Chaos

Well, we went. It was...not what I was expecting? Perhaps I expect too much. The first year we went to the CoC, it was AWESOME!!!! The game part was forever long and through a huge and seemingly endless mansion. I think it took us around 30-45 minutes. It was wonderful!!!

This game, we were done in 7 minutes. The whole thing took place in four rooms. There was no sprawling maze, no endless mansions, just one hallway and four rooms for going to and fro. At the end, when we were facing the vampire, I actually thought: "clearly, we have lost, because here we are, facing the vampire, and we haven't even begun to play the game." No, no that was it. That was the end.

I mean, it was fun, and we had a great time, and the game was fun, but no where near $17 worth of fun, especially considering the first year was only $10. CoC has become highly commercialized. I don't think I shall be returning next year unless the price is free.

That's The Reason We Need Lips So Much

I love my husband. He is the most amazing person I have ever met. He constantly amazes me with all he does. He is constantly working hard at his job, typing away at his computer, solving the problems of the world. Because we have very limited furniture, he has been using a metal folding chair as his office chair. One day I did some work in his chair and discovered that after an hour, I was dying. The chair was horrible! Here Drek was spending eight hours plus in it! He works so hard, he definitely deserved a new chair. Luckily, I happen to work at a back store that just happens to have the most ergonomic office chairs in it's inventory. Drek picked the chair he wanted, I picked the color and voila! a comfortable chair to sit those long hours in.

Not only is he is always going over to the animal shelter to help out, but he volunteers to do websites for the animal shelter. He learns new things, puts them into practical (and financially successful) use and still manages to find enough time to make me feel loved, appreciated and special. He is just so great.

I'm trying to do more for him. I've been super successful at the dinner thing. Gone are the days of cereal and hot dogs for dinner! Now are the days of delicious and healthy meals that I love to make and we love to eat! My third attempt at Ratatouille was my best attempt. Although the basic ratatouille is delicious, healthy and super-easy, Ratatouille Remy-Style is delicious, healthy, and looks awesome. It is not easy, but is was worth it. Behold, a dish a rat inspired:
When Drek and I were in Texas, we watched an episode of Rachel Ray (I had never seen an episode before, or since). She was making something called potato pancakes. Drek commented that his mom used to make a version of those all the time. Last week, I looked up four different potato pancake recipes, mixed them together and added what I remembered from the Rachel Ray episode. The result: YUMMY!! Healthy, yummy, and easy. The perfect dinner. Well, not perfect. It needs sauce. There is this sauce at Bombay house that would be amazing with these potato pancakes. I must learn how to imitate that sauce to this dinner will be perfect, because my husband deserves perfect dinners, and I love creating them for him.

October At Last!!!

I love October!! It is the start of the bet time of the year!!! I love Halloween and this year I have sworn to celebrate it like a fiend!!
Next week We are going to the Castle of Chaos, A Halloween tradition spanning back 3 years! I'm so excited.
That will be followed by the Saboteur III, which is on Saturday. I have a special Halloween game all planned and ready. Bwhahahaha!!
Sometime in October I also want to do a How to Host a Murder, and a Halloween party. I haven't figured out the dates yet, but I am excited!
On the 28th I am flying out to San Diego to spend some time with Jordan and Jessica and Bonnie. I come home on Halloween eve. I wanted to spend Halloween with Drek. I already have Drek's and my Halloween costumes planned, I only have to make them...