Thursday, October 30, 2008

Angels and Demons

I don't know how many of you are fans of Dan Brown and the books Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code, but I am. I love mysteries and puzzles and these were great books. They did a pretty good job making the movie The DaVinci Code, not a great job, but pretty good, and I am so excited because I just saw the trailer for Angels and Demons, which will be out next May. The things that most excited me are that Tom Hanks is back as the lead (because he is a great actor and I hate it when they change the actor in a sequel) and Ewan McGregor will be playing Camerlengo Ventresca. I won't give away any spoilers here, but I think he has the perfect look and attitude for the role...the whole shebang. So anyways, so so so excited!!!

http://www.angelsanddemons.com/

Much Ado...

Tomorrow is Halloween! I love Halloween. Dressing up is still one of my favorite things, as evidenced by the party earlier this month. Mostly now I just love the adorable trick-o-treaters. Last year we didn't get very many by the house, but I am hoping this year will be an improvement. Shane asked me last night if I was going to get some candy today and I said I had already had it for a week in the pumpkin bowl. Like I would forget trick-o-treater candy!

Anyway, hopefully I will get home from work a little early so that I can see the itty bitty ones. One of these days I will have to have a couple little ones of my own. For now though, all my friends have enough babies to satisfy my cuddly cravings. I am even going to a baby shower on Sunday! Lots of babies. :)


We have three BIG sycamores in our yard and the colors are beautiful right now. I am enjoying fall very much, although I need to pull my sweaters out of the closet. Last night I was looking through some Christmas idea books from the library and was super cold. I asked Shane if I could turn up the heat, but it was already at 70. Sad.

My Christmas plans are starting to come together. I am making several of the present being given out this year, so I am not starting too early. I just hope that it won't end up being late! However, the crafts I have picked out are fairly simple, so hopefully two months will not by too little time. I will try to post pictures of some of the things I make, or at least take them and put them up after the holidays so no secrets are spilled.

Before I go, I have to brag. My sweet, sneaky husband dropped these off at my office two days ago before I got to work for no reason whatsoever!! Isn't that wonderful? Chrysanthemums are my very favorite!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Costume Pictures!!

Here are the promised pictures of the costumes that I made for our birthday party!



Nikki's blue poodle skirt and my gold flapper dress.

I am so proud of these. I am far from being a seamstress, but I had fun doing these outfits and they turned out really well, if I do say so myself.

The weekend is winding down

I accomplished some things that I had planned on this weekend, but not everything. The biggest thing that did not get done was the spaghetti sauce/salsa canning session. Shane worked today and we had to work on the garden yesterday, so there was no time. Hopefully we will be able to make that happen next Saturday. My friend Nikki might come help if we do.
I did get quite a few of my other tasks done. Yesterday we ran errands and put in a lot of bulbs in the bed in front of the house. We still have some more to go in and another bed to prep, so for the next few nights, Shane will work on it once he gets home. I made four batches of pear bread today and have a ham in the slow-cooker for dinner (and lunch and dinner and lunch and dinner--it's a big ham for just two people). I ran around town some this morning and found a birthday present for Shane and some yarn for my afghan and some Christmas projects. Yay for yarn on sale!!
Right now I am trying to convince myself to go out and prep the bed for the next set of bulbs before Shane gets home so that we can get them in the ground quickly, but I am being very lazy and haven't been able to talk myself into it yet. I also need to charge the batteries for my camera so that I can post some pictures of my projects and the gorgeous fall colors that are showing up in my yard.
For now, I will tough-up and go out to dig for the bulbs and hope that Shane gets home early so we can get them all done before it is too dark.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Time flies

So, lately I have been really busy, but I am not sure that I have accomplished anything. I got some more pear butter finished, although it ended up a little thinner than I wanted becuase it was getting late and I needed to get it in the canner so I could go to bed. I have also been working on a crocheted afghan that I started ages ago when I wasn't very good at it. I am still not great, but I am faster now and can do quite a bit without looking at it since it is a beginners pattern and just a lot of chains and doubles. I need more yarn for it though, so I have to go hunting this weekend and hope I can match at least the type of yarn. I don't have any hope for the dye lot. No biggie.
Tomorrow after work I am going to go cheer on a bunch of kids I don't know in their homecoming football game. My friend Nikki teaches science nearby and she is uber-involved in extra-curricular activities. Mostly I am going because I love football and haven't been to a game in a year. So sad. So I will go freeze my butt off and cheer my lungs out. Then Saturday Shane (my husband), Nikki and I are going to make a bunch of spaghetti sauce and salsa and can it. I can't wait. I always complain about how much of a pain canning is, but I put up with it because I love the food that I get without any trouble at all for the next year.
The only other news I have right now is that I am excited because I signed up for a beginner's knitting class at the local yarn shop. Yay!! I have wanted to learn to knit for a long time, but I don't know any knitters and I did not really want to try to learn from a book. So it's very exciting, but the class is not till Nov. 11th. I guess I will just have to work on finishing up that afghan until then. Wish me luck on finding the right colors of yarn.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Recent History

Lately I have been very busy, which is why I thought a blog would be interesting. The biggest thing recently was the Birthday Party. My friend Nikki and I both turned 28 last week and decided that it had been far too long since we had had a birthday party. After some deliberation, the decision was made to have a costume party the weekend before our birthdays. Costume making ensued. :) A week before the party Nikki finally decided that a poodle skirt was her dream costume and I sewed her a cute one out of light blue felt with a white poodle applique. I made myself an awesome 20's flapper dress in gold and black and cut my hair short to complete the look. Friends, games, and ice cream cake made for a great evening.
Since then, the biggest part of my busyness has been a flurry of canning. Our house came with a cherry tree and a pear tree in the back yard. The cherry did not cause us too much trouble this year due to a lack of proper spraying, but the pear produced more than enough to make up for it. My husband and I each took a lot of pears to work, but we still had several boxes of pears left. These sat ripening in the garage until last week, when they would wait no longer. I canned a few quarts of pear halves and this week I am making pear butter for canning. I have got 15 pints so far and may do another batch. Other than that I will be making pear bread and pear kuchen, both of which are yummy and both of which freeze well. Pears for everyone.
This weekend, once the pears are done, we plan to buy a few boxes of tomatoes at the produce stand and make a bunch of salsa and pasta sauce to can. Yummy!
As the holidays creep (or sprint) closer, I am sure that I will only get busier and busier, but it should be fun busy.

To blog...

Blogging is fairly new to me, other than a couple of interesting (to me) events that I felt the myspace community should definitely know about. With the idea in my head and the encouragement of a friend I am now jumping feet first into this new endeavor. Many things in my recent past are exciting to me and I just need to tell someone about it...even if they are only pretending to listen. So welcome to anyone who finds this and I hope that you get some small amount of enjoyment out of my ramblings and random insanity.