Not my favorite holiday

I'm not crazy about Halloween. I hate dressing up. And -- true confession -- the last few years I have left my apartment on Halloween night to avoid giving out candy. I liked it as a kid (who didn't?!). My favorite costume was when I was dressed as a dice. I wore a box that we had painted white with big black dots on it. I wish I had a picture of me in that costume. In fact, I don't think I have any pictures of us on Halloween.

One year our dad took us trick-or-treating in Beverly Hills (it was only 15 miles away). I remember that at one house the butler gave out the candy! Some families were having big parties at their houses. And, we got lots of full-size candy bars. I grew up in a tract neighborhood so that meant lots of houses close together and lots of candy. Every year after trick-or-treating we would go home, organize our candy, and started the trading!

Tomorrow night I'll be at the Trunk-or-Treat party at church. (I'm in charge.) I'll take a few pictures, serve refreshments, and steal some candy from little kids in costumes.

Daylight Savings Time

We had Stake Conference today at 9:00am (in Weston; about 25 minutes away). I saw neighborly neighbors in the parking lot at 7:45am and they offered me a ride. At first I said no because I thought I might take some pictures after church but then agreed to go with them. I showed them my short-cut to Weston. When we arrived, there were only 10 cars in the parking lot. John said, "What's going on?" They hadn't set their clocks back. I thought they were going to church early and they thought I was going late!

The moral of the story is: we had great seats for a great meeting!

Quilts

My pumpkin making friend Elisabeth went with me to a quilt show today at the Museum of our National Heritage just down the street. My neighbor works at the museum and he told me about the exhibit. The quilts were beautiful. My favorite is the one with the dresses on it (the woman made it for her daughter's 16th birthday). I've never seen one like that! Seeing all those beautiful quilts made me itchy to get working on my next project but I probably won't start until the winter (and I'm confined to my condo because it's too cold to go out).

Here are pictures of my three favorites.

pumpkin patch

After I taught my turkey class last night my friend Elisabeth taught a pumpkin class and I made one pumpkin. Elisabeth came over tonight and helped me make a dozen more! I did all the machine sewing and she did the stuffing and hand sewing on the tops. And then I glued the sticks (yes, I've got a glue gun). We had our own little assembly line going. The fabric came from Winmil Fabrics, one of the last fabric stores in downtown Boston. My favorite is the brown fabric. And you've got to admit, those teenie pumpkins are pretty cute!

Thanks for all your help Elisabeth! We're already brainstorming for winter projects...

Turkey class

Tonight I taught some gals from church how to make these turkeys. They are SO easy! Another woman taught us how to make these really cool pumpkins. I made one tonight and want to make more over the weekend. If I do, I'll post some photos.

Gobble, gobble!!

Blogging craze

My brother John (aka "Walt") mocks my blog. Maybe he'll buy one of these t-shirts to wear the next time we get together.











I'll keep on blogging because I enjoy it. And I know I have a few faithful followers.

:)

fun fall family fotos

I did a photo shoot over the weekend and here are some of my favorites. I got quite a few good shots (I guess so...I took ~350 pictures)! I thought their choice of colors was good and was pleased with the Fall-ish surroundings.

Not funny

There was ice on my car window this morning. I dug around my trunk and found my scraper under a box of paper and a blanket. I scraped the back window so I could safely drive to early bird church (8:30am). It's not looking good if I'm scraping ice off my car on October 22nd.

Winter is around the corner. Not funny. Not funny at all.

Yet another wonderful Fall Saturday

My day started with my friend Caleb's baptism followed by the annual Fall party, and then dinner at a Japanese restaurant with my friend "Sister" (thanks again for dinner!).

Caleb decided last Christmas that he wanted to read The Book of Mormon before his baptism. He finished last night! I think that is so awesome!! I'm really proud of him. He's got amazing parents that helped him reach his goal.

The weather today was beautiful. I don't remember having four amazing Fall Saturdays in a row like we've had this year.








I've been sitting at my computer for many minutes downloading photos. Here are a few from a terrific day!

Pure joy!

Tonight for the second time in who knows how long, I filled my gas tank for less than $20. It was pure joy!!

Would you pay $14.99 for a dozen cookies?

I stopped at Dunkin' Donuts this morning and bought a pumpkin muffin. I noticed a sign listing how much their cookies were: 1 cookie $1.49, blah, blah, blah, 1 dozen cookies $14.99. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? They probably go to the freezer and take out frozen processed cookie dough balls and bake them. The cookies didn't even look appetizing.

Tonight I baked some yummy chocolate chip cookies. I'll sell you a baker's dozen for ten bucks.

striped tights

Over the weekend I crawled into my crawl space, went through my winter clothes and dragged them all upstairs. Then I went through my closet and drawers and sorted my summer clothes and put them in bins in the crawl space. I filled two big garbage bags with summer and winter clothes to donate or sell.

I grew up in L.A. Out there you have clothes. No winter clothes. No summer clothes. Just clothes. And, you don't ever move them. But I love having seasons and it feels good to sort/organize/donate clothes twice a year. During the process I came across a bag of dark socks and tights. I like wearing tights. I was at my trendsetter friend Julie's house over the weekend and noticed these really cool new striped tights on her dresser. I knew I had to have some too. I went to Target tonight and bought some cool striped tights. They were the same price as my green messenger bag.

There are a few drawbacks about cold weather: frozen hair, heating bills, and slipping on ice to name a few.

But there is one nifty thing about cold weather: striped tights!

Elephants never forget...

I had dinner tonight with two previous (not "old") co-workers. It was lots of fun to get together and especially to see my friend's new apartment (seriously, it's the penthouse!). She has an amazing kitchen!! I didn't get home until late and had totally forgotten I was going to do a typing project for someone. It's a good thing I went upstairs and noticed my answering machine light flashing! As soon as I saw it I remembered.

Not only do I bake at midnight but I type at midnight!!

Deal of the Day

I went shopping at lunchtime today. I found this small messenger bag for 70% off at the Eddie Bauer Outlet. It cost me $5.99. I love deals like that!

Another beautiful Fall Saturday in New England

What a gorgeous day! I got up at 7:30am to move my car (they were repairing and painting our parking lot today). Later this morning I took my neighborly neighbors for a walk into Lexington Center to the P.O. and a quilt show. We stopped on the way home to take some photos.

I've been wanting to go to Keepsake Quilting in New Hampshire (or "Cow Hampshire" as it is often called or "Dog Hampshire" as I sometimes call it since some friends sent their dog to dog training in N.H.) and decided at 2:00pm I was up for a drive. It was 2 hours up and 2 hours back. I bought all my red/blue reproduction fabric there for my first quilt I made. I've been in the "fabric collecting phase" for my second quilt and have wanted to check out what they have. It was a beautiful day for a drive. I cranked Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising". At one point I was driving down a hill and there was a quaint New England town in front of me with church spires and beautiful leaves. It was breathtaking!

I bought some cool fabric (for my next quilt and for a turkey project) and enjoyed walking around the store for an hour. The place was mobbed with a bus load of ladies from a quilting guild in Connecticut.

I have this thing for 30's reproduction fabric. Particularly, red 30's reproduction fabric. I asked if I could take photos and they said it was not a problem. Keepsake Quilting is an amazing store and they have a great collection of fabric.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home for 3 items...forgetting that you shouldn't shop for groceries when you are starving. That must be why I bought 3 boxes of cornbread mix, junior mints, and chocolate ice cream. Sixty dollars and 10 bags later I pulled into the newly repaired and painted parking lot at Muzzey High.

It was another beautiful Fall Saturday in New England...it's good for the soul...

A young volunteer

This story is about my sister-in-law Jennifer and my niece Emma: http://www.tualatintimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=116068673248700000

It's time to decorate

I like decorating for holidays. Here are two pictures of my big window Halloween decorations.

Which one's the mother, which one's the daughter?

I introduced myself to one of my neighbors yesterday. Her name is Nancy. She's lived in my building for 16 years. She's the mother of six and grandmother of seven. She retired from working in personnel at MIT and now teaches ESL. After chatting for a few minutes she said, "Tell me your name again." When I said "Ellen", she said, "Oh, I won't forget your name; one of my daughters is named Ellen." Then I said, "I won't forget your name; my mother's name is Nancy!"

Hangin' out

Today is Columbus Day. I'm SO glad to have a holiday! I'm puttering around my condo and trying to get things done. Just hangin' out.

Root too

One of my favorite drives in the Fall is "out Route 2". That's where I was yesterday and here are the pictures to prove it.

A is for Apple picking

One of my very favorite New England traditions is apple picking. Every Fall I organize a trip to an orchard in the town of Harvard for interested ward members. We went to Doe Orchards today. The weather was cool and crisp and we had a great group of friends spread throughout the orchard. We had lunch at Wendy's. Everyone had a great time! I brought home a small bag of honeycrisp apples which are delicous! Here are a few shots of Elle.

Have a holly, jolly Christmas --- WHAT?!?

I was disturbed about Halloween candy being on sale August 15th but I am super disturbed that Christmas candy is on sale today--October 5th.

I don't even know what I'm going to be for Halloween but I can buy a candy cane.

That ain't right.

T.V. junkie

I watched LOST tonight. I missed all of Season 2 so was scratching my head a bit...

I also watched the season premiere of NINE: http://abc.go.com/primetime/thenine/index.html. I'm hooked.

Where do I sign up for Anger Management?

Last night I ordered some reprints on-line from my favorite film/camera shop. Today when I went to pick them up 30 of the prints weren't right (they forgot my favorite white borders). I looked at the order sheet they printed out and I had placed my order correctly. I had also put my instructions in the "comments" section which apparently they don't read. The owner reminded me that humans are doing the work. Oh really? I thought they had a robot upstairs that operated the machines and filled the orders. I'm tired of "human error".

I was very annoyed for a few reasons, and I let them know. First--I had parked at a friend's house (and walked to and from the subway station) so I could pick up my pictures on my way home after work. Second--it was their mistake. I reminded them that they aren't the only store around that develops film and I could easily take my business elsewhere. I get all my reprints done there and I recommend them to my friends.

The manager gave me a coupon for 50 free 4x6 reprints and said she would mail my pictures to me tomorrow (I think she would have even delivered them to my home but I told her I live in a secure building). I'm still annoyed but I feel better. I don't think I really need Anger Management. I need to be a tough customer like I was today.

New babies

Here are pictures of my two newest friends: Grant Henry (born 9/23) and Sarah Magdalena (born 9/14).