Merry Christmas!

My favorite day of the year is today, Christmas Eve. I love the excitement everyone is feeling as we await Christ's birthday and the Christmas celebration. Today there is still anticipation in the air, the spirit of Christmas, of giving and spending time with friends and families.

We have worked toward the Christmas holiday for a while, getting things ready, making lists, swapping names in the gift exchange, buying gifts, getting the food ready, baking cookies (but not this year), and all the other fun things we do at Christmas.

This year, as we have for the past few years, we visited the Davis Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens in Mill Creek Park. Organizations and companies decorate trees with themes, and the park decorates the gardens with lights. It was absolutely beautiful and there were so many creative ideas.


pencils and crayons made ornaments

beads and jewels strung in a tree

There were carolers in the gazebo in the gardens, adding that warm feeling as we walked through the gardens enjoying the exhibits.

 

A high school band was playing holiday music and cookies and hot chocolate were passed out.








There was a snow goddess in her own kingdom in the Davis Center.


Aaron, Austin, Snow Goddess and Andrew

The A-Team standing where the fountain usually flows

Christmas Eve is such a fun evening. The children are all psyched up for Santa and the gifts they are hoping for. We get together at our house with the family, have a nice meal, some cookies and/or dessert, then exchange gifts. The grandchildren get to open their gifts from us and their aunts and uncles which relieves some of the pent up energy of waiting for Christmas. We do our family gift exchange together on this evening also.

Sugar got into the spirit this year for her first Christmas. She got all decked out.

 The best part of any holiday for me is spending time with my family. From our home to yours, wherever that might be, have a wonderful Christmas.

Sugar and Lily are ready for the holiday too and also wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Good Night Lily! Good night Sugar!

Sister to Sister Letter

Dear Lily,

This is a letter of warning from your little sister. Well, I’m not really littler than you but I am younger so that makes me the “little” sister. Don’t think that means you are smarter though, ‘cause you’re not!

Anyways, Big Sister, Lily, I just want to explain to you that you better start being nicer to me or else.

“Or else?” you ask. “Yes-or ELSE!”

There are only two more nights until Christmas Eve when Santa slides his chubby body down that fireplace. He is watching us, both you and me, and also all the other children and pets. All of us, Lily, not just me. So when I want to play with you, that means you have to play with me. And I don’t want to play “snake and panther in the jungle” anymore either. I want to wrestle with you and chase you. I’m tired of letting you be the panther in the brush, reaching out to smack me. You know, sometimes my little white cheeks get tender from that.

What? You don’t like when I box you back? Or bite your tail when I play “bite the tail on the cat?” No more football for you? Come on, Lil, what kind of fun is that you want to have? I just want to tackle you from behind, hold you down and bite on your tail. Didn’t you read the rule book?

Did I hear you say something like “I’m too old for this?” Age is just a number in your head Lil. You’re not really old. You still look real pretty so I don’t think you can be that old. Not so old that you can’t play with your little sister anyway. Right,Lily?

 

 

The main thing is Lily, you HAVE to play with me. Santa can see everything we do. Yeah, that’s kind of scary isn’t it? But I’m just being good ole Sugar so I have nothing to worry about. “What? That tissue I tore up in the hallway? Is that bad?”

 

Well Dad doesn’t need those old slippers that much anyway. I just made it extra comfy inside when I chewed the lining out. He has more room in there now. See Lil, I’m not being bad. I’m just always thinking of the other guy or gal, like you. When I chase you I’m just helping you get exercise, you know, to stay in shape. We both have to watch our girlish figures .You said you’re getting older so you better watch out or you’ll have to deal with the “sag”.

Everything looks so pretty at Christmastime, Lily. There are lights on houses, decorations in the yards, and lots of pretty presents wrapped up nice.

I love to open that pretty paper. Did you see what I did to the colorful wrapping paper Mama had out the other day? I dragged it into the living room and chewed away. She grabbed that off me so fast I didn’t have time to get to the roll in the middle. But that pretty bag with the red tissue paper inside that she put under the tree was lots of fun. I dragged it out by the handles and pulled that pretty paper into the middle of the living room. I made real nice confetti out of it although it was kind of wet by the time I was done. Then I pulled on the scarf in the bag and had fun yanking that around the room. But I got caught when the other thing in the bag made a loud clanking noise on the floor and Papa came in.

 

Ooh…wait a minute. Did I say, “I got got caught?” Hmmmm, that kind of sounds like I was doing something bad doesn’t it? Oh boy, Lily, I think I’m in trouble.  Do you think Santa will bring me anything?

 

Let me tell you about this Santa guy, Lil. He wears a red suit with a big black belt around his rotund belly. What are you chuckling about? Rotund is a real word. He likes to laugh a lot. We better be good Lily so he keeps laughing. When he laughs his belly jumps up and down, up and down. Then he has to pull on his britches –that’s a word too- so they don’t fall down. He has these really cool shiny black boots. I don’t know about them though. I’ll bet they are slippery on the rooftops. Yes, Lily, he walks on roofs. No, silly sister, he isn’t putting shingles on the roof. He lands his sleigh with reindeer on the roof. Then he walks over to the chimney, butters up, grabs his sack of presents, and slides on down the chimney.

That’s where you and I come in. You see, all the kids have to be in bed but we can sleep by the fireplace and he won’t think anything of it. He’ll still come down the chimney.

Here’s the plan. When we see his feet hanging through the opening, we pretend we’re sleeping. We can peek through one eye and watch him. He is supposed to put presents under the tree for all the good people, and dogs and cats I think. When he has his back turned you just amble over to him and rub that silky soft fur of yours against his leg. Use your female charm and distract him. I’ll start rummaging through his sack until I find some bones or toys for dogs. What? Cat toys too? Oh, yea, okay. I’ll be on the lookout for those too-if you are nice to me for the next couple days.

This sounds like a win-win situation for Sugar.

Aaron "Ace's" the Test and Nicknames

Last year I wrote a blog about twin brothers vying for the same spelling bee. Both wanted it badly, but only one made it. Aaron was quite disappointed that he didn't get to be in the bee but he did get special permission to watch his brother Andrew compete last year.



His shirt says, "Sorry, I practiced more than you!" How fitting.

This year, Aaron aced the spelling bee rounds for his fifth grade classroom and will be competing while Andrew, hopefully, will be allowed to watch Aaron. During Christmas break, Aaron will be studying hard for the competition. I expect he will do well.



I use the word "Ace" in this blog, because that is Aaron's new nickname and it fits him well. He is a conscientious young man who tries to do things right, following the rules, doing things in order, and remembering what is expected of him. He is kind to others (except sometimes his brothers) and doesn't like to hurt anyone's feelings. He is sensitive to the needs of others most times.

Aaron was sometimes referred to as Aaron Baron because it rhymed. To me he is my "Special A" and always will be. This past weekend, his parents suggested several nicknames and he liked Ace the best. Hence, Aaron is now the Ace. Ace of spelling bees, Ace of kindness, Ace of a boy!

Looking back, it is interesting how nicknames get started. I used to refer to Andrew when he was a tiny infant as "Mr. Magoo" because he had fat chubby cheeks in a round face. I hadn't connected at that time that Magoo rhymed with Andrew when I started referring to him that way. Hence, we sometimes refer to Andrew as Magoo, or Goo. My personal nickname for Andrew is "Braveheart." I have watched that young man come through many things in his young life that many adults wouldn't have the tenacity to endure.

In keeping with the "A" theme for names, Austin was given an "alter-ego" nickname of Antwan by his mother. When Austin gets hungry a monster child seems to appear out of nowhere. From being the sweet, helpful Austin, Antwan can appear instantly without warning. Give Antwan a bowl of Cheerios and he disappears and Austin reappears. Austin will always be "Grandma's Sweetheart" to me though.

When I was a pre-schooler, I enjoyed playing with my brothers and doing boy things. My parents nicknamed me "Tom," short for tomboy, which didn't bother me at all. What did bother me was when my third brother was born and they had the audacity to name him Tom and stopped calling me Tom.

A teenage neighbor girl took to calling me "Effie Clinker" when I was in grade school which made me cry. I have no idea why I cried when she called me this nor do I have any idea why she named me that. Who is Effie Clinker anyway?

Children's Innocence

Last Friday we had Kevin and Jen’s girls, Ashlyn and Danica, for a few hours while their parents went to the Christmas party put on by Kevin’s employer. We love having the girls, enjoying their stories and antics. Ken thought it would be a good idea to invite the A-Team over while the girls were here. We knew that Ashlyn and Aaron had very similar interests-reading, writing and drawing.

It was a hit.  Amazingly the five of them hit it off without a hitch. The A-Team and the girls got along wonderfully. Since Danica was the only one whose name didn’t start with an A, she suggested we call her Addie. Then they could all be part of the A-Team.

They entertained themselves for hours and it seemed as if they had known each other all their lives.

This week was Karin’s Christmas party put on by her employer. We had the boys overnight. Aaron suggested we invite the girls over again. Just like last week the five of them enjoyed each other’s company. They played X-Box, wrote stories together, and Danica and Austin (the two youngest) entertained themselves at the table drawing and writing. There was no bickering except for who got to go first on the X-box games but even that was solved quickly.

Isn’t it wonderful how children adapt so easily to each other and accept each other without question? It makes me wish we could all have the innocence of a child in our hearts.

And for all those innocent children in Connecticut whose lives were cut short or those who have to now live with what they experienced, a special prayer goes out to all of them and their families.  I pray that those children can still live with innocence and trust in their lives.

 

 

Another first for Sugar

 There’s something strange going on. Everyone is talking about Christmas. I never heard of Christmas before. Another first for Sugar!

Mama and Papa put a tree in our living room. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like it ‘cause I do. But it doesn’t look or smell like the trees I am used to sniffing around outside.

This one is white and they put all these pretty things on it. And this tree lights up! Yeah, it really does.  It shines white lights in our room.  I never saw a tree light up before.

Oh yea, speaking of lights, now when Mama and me go outside at night, there are colored lights all over our street. And to top it off, we have some on our house. It really looks glamorous out there. You know, glamorous like me!

There’s more though. Lots more. And this part is kinda’ scary to me. I hear talk of this guy, Santa, who is coming to town. Yep…to my town, Girard. That’s where I live when I’m not at the campground. So okay, he’s welcome to come to my town; but now because he is coming, I have to be good, not naughty, but nice.



And he can see what I am doing, daytime or night.  Oh boy, I might be in some trouble. (I hope he doesn’t tell Papa about some of the stuff I’ve done.) He might find out I am the one who steals his shoes and drags them wherever I want them. Not in the closet-that’s boring. And mama was pretty upset with me when I rolled in that stinky stuff that day. 

Oh yea, here’s more. This guy, Santa, (I probably shouldn’t say this but…..{whispering so Mama doesn’t hear me} “He’s fat!” And I hear he is going to slide down our chimney and come into the house through our fireplace. Good luck Santa-our fireplace opening isn’t that big. But I guess he has ways around that. Maybe he smears butter on himself to slide down easier. I’ve heard Papa tell Mama maybe she needs some butter to slide into her slacks.

 

Anyway, I think we need to move our couch so when his slippery body hits the floor, he can get outta that fireplace. Boy, Mrs. Claus is gonna’ be mad at him when he gets home ‘cause his clothes are gonna’ be real dirty from sliding down sooty old chimneys. Remember, Santa, how mad Mama got at me when I got all dirty? Mrs. Claus is gonna’ make you take a bath as soon as you get home. Hopefully you won’t stink like I did.

So anyways, if I’m a good girl (or he doesn’t find out about some of the bad stuff I’ve done), I guess he brings presents, wrapped up all pretty. I’m so excited! Presents for Sugar!. I wonder If it will be more pretty clothes, or a new toy, maybe a bone, or even treats. Yea…I really like treats.

When I see Mama get the little jar of chicken treats out, I immediately start doing the “Happy Dance” for her. Sometimes that is not what she wants me to do but I can’t help it. I really do get happy when I see those treats. So, Santa, if you want to bring me treats, that’s okay with me.

 

There’s another thing about Christmas - Lots of pretty music. They even named the songs after that girl, Carol. You know, they call them Christmas Carols. I like the one about Rudolph. He has a red nose. Not me…I got a black one to match my eyes. I wonder if Rudolph’s eyes are red like his nose?

I can’t wait to see the presents wrapped under the tree. Mama has come home with lots of packages lately but she won’t let me nose around in them. Maybe after they are under the tree, I can do some sneaking and peeking.

Oh..Oh.. right..right…Me and Lily are not supposed to get under that tree and play with each other. I like to tackle her but she just keeps pretending to be a snake making snakey-like noises, then she acts like a boxer and starts boxing my nose. I learned how to stand up on my back legs and box right back at her. But we are not allowed to do that anymore under the tree. We got yelled at last night for doing that. (I hope Santa didn’t see that one.)

Okay…for now, I’m gonna’ go put on my “Good Sugar” face and sit with Papa. I hope this Christmas thing turns out real nice for you too.

 

I'm a Winner!

No, not the Power Ball Lottery, although I thought I was going to be the big winner. I'll have to keep trying for that.

 

I did earn the status of "Winner" on Nanowrimo.org 

At 10:30 tonight, Nov. 29, 2012, I completed over 50,000 words written this month. I have written my first complete novel. I now need to go back and read it to see if it is any good.

The best part of completing this challenge is, well, completing it! I had a deadline which forced me to sit down and write.

It turned out to be quite an enjoyable time, just letting the words flow instead of trying too hard to make them sound just right. I now need to go back and do a lot of editing, re-wording, cutting or maybe just scrapping the whole thing.

But I did it! In one month I wrote over 50,000 words. Okay, enough bragging. Just wanted to let you know I completed it.

What's Mama Doing?

 Hi There! It’s me, bored Sugar. Well not always bored but sometimes.

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am sleeping on the pillow that Mama says Clayton left for me. I didn’t like it too much before but now I use it a lot. It is in the corner near where Mama sits when she writes, so now I lay here and wait for her to be done.

 

 

 

 That is when I am not sitting on Papa’s lap with Lily, the cat.

Sometimes I chase Lily around and she makes sounds like a snake at me. You know - that hissing sound. I guess she really likes it when I jump at her. I know she wants me to play because she keeps pushing her paw in my face when she hisses.

 

 But sometimes, I have to go in my Sugar Shack if I won’t leave Lily alone when I am told. But don’t worry, she waits for me to get out so we can play again.

 

 

 

I don’t know why Mama continues to sit there typing away instead of playing with me. I heard her telling Papa that she was over 35,000 words. I sure wish she would quit doing that so we could play.

“Wait, she is closing it up.  Okay, let’s play tug, Mama! I’ll get my toy.”

See you later. Mama’s gonna’ play! Thanks for listening though.

 

Love,

Sugar

GOBBLE, GOBBLE, WOBBLE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

I hope everyone gets time to spend with their family today. Being with my family is the best part of any holiday for me. Today we will all be at Barb's (Ken's sister) for dinner. She is a good cook and the meal will be more like a feast.

Whenever our family gets together, it is centered around food. No matter what the reason for the get together, we obsess over food. Most times we make way too much, never wanting anyone to go away hungry. The mantra in this family is, "I'd rather have too much than not enough!"

Oh my, how true that is. And I think we take it literally. We eat too much rather than not enough.

Later today, we will gobble, gobble, gobble and then I think we will wobble, wobble, wobble or maybe I should say, waddle, waddle, waddle. 

I hope your day is filled with good food, happiness and your family.

Just a Funny

This sounds like Andrew talking to Aaron and the response he would get:

Wondering about my audience

For some reason, one of my posts, "It turned out to be a good weekend" has been popular. There is nothing especially interesting in that post to most people who don't know me or follow my blog.

I have gotten many "anonymous comments" on that post which automatically go to my spam folder. I went in and adjusted comments so that posts older than 14 days would not allow any comments, thinking this would slow down the anonymous emails. It did slow them down so I went back in and put it back to anyone can comment. This then brought on more "anonymous comments" so I put the filter back on.

When I check my stats, my biggest audience is from France. I know no one from France and am wondering why so many people from France are viewing my blog and I believe that particular post.

Does anyone know why this is happening? I am not complaining about having too many views, but I am concerned that something is happening behind the scenes on the internet and my blog is the vehicle. Can this happen?

Words to a Song

I went to a Chris Young concert last night with Karin, Andrew and Austin at Covelli Center in Youngstown, Ohio. Chris who is 27, performed wonderfully even after telling the audience at the beginning of his act that he had lost a good friend that morning. I wondered how that affected his performance emotionally but he didn’t let it show. He did dedicate one song to his friend.

Starting the show was Joanna Smith who sang some lively country music. She had a lot of energy and came across as fun-loving. I enjoyed her laughter after each song.

Following Joanna was Eric Paslay. I truly enjoyed listening to his music and songs. He is a young man with curly red hair. He wore a baseball cap and his hair is long enough that his pretty curls hung below the cap in the back. (I wonder if he would appreciate the adjective “pretty?”)

Eric has a strong voice and his band was awesome. I liked the lyrics of his songs, his music was good and he had a good stage presence. Throughout his act he told of songs that he wrote that he then performed for us. There are many others that he wrote that other stars sing. Chris Young sang at least one of Eric’s songs. I believe the world will be seeing lots more of Eric Paslay before long.

Since I love to write, I couldn’t help but wonder how one goes about writing a song. How does the artist come up with a catchy phrase that blends so well into the music? Sometimes certain words have double meanings in the song. Often, the last word of one sentence seems to start the next or maybe goes into the first word of the chorus.

Songs convey a message through music. It is putting feelings or events into words much like writing a story, only making use of less but more powerful words to tell that story.

I am in awe of the artistic talent of musical entertainers. They not only have the musical ability of art but also the writing ability. Sometimes I struggle to let my muse out when writing words, but they then have to also use their musical talent to complete their project.

There was definitely a lot of talent on the stage last night, some better known than others, but talent just the same.

Update

I am close to 20,000 words for my November writing project. I know I am still behind but I have never written this much in two weeks before in my life. I have no idea where this story will end up. I'm just letting the words flow onto the screen. It may be a mess when I'm done or might have some possibility of being made into something good. For now, I am just letting the characters take me where they want to go. It's interesting how the characters change and develop without me even trying to make them into something.

I am really enjoying writing this way. I started with an idea for a plot but the story has diverted somewhat from that, although there is still a little bit of the original plot in there.

Well better get ready for work. I'll be back when I can.

Sugar is not always so Sweet

(After reading this post you will know why there are no cute pics to go with it.)

 

So It is a sunny, fairly warm day today. I had a vehicle here with me at work (Ken and I carpool usually) so I decide I will go home to let Sugar play in the backyard at lunch. Afterwards, I will bring her to work to visit her friends for the afternoon because I have had several requests to bring her in.

 I get her out of her Sugar Shack and grab her ball. Out we go, down the deck steps and into the backyard. She fetches and returns the ball several times then decides to just sit. I fetch the ball and throw it in the opposite direction. She runs for it and then stops. She notices a scent in the grass that appeals to her and decides to roll in it. Rolling in the grass is one of her favorite things. I watch for a minute or two while she continues to roll, get up, sniff, and then roll some more.

Finally, I am ready to play ball again so I go over to her and grab her ball. When I get close to her, I realize she was not just rolling in grass. Yes, you guessed it! She was rolling in poo(p).

Oh no, my fun lunchtime with Sugar and then happy visit to work is now ruined. I tell her to go on the deck, which luckily she does. Another stroke of luck, I had a towel draped over the sliding glass door handle to wipe her feet. But I am definitely not going to wipe her feet with it this time. I have to snatch her up in it and wrap her so I don’t get covered with poo.

Up the steps we go to the bathroom. I lock her in there while I go strip out of my work clothes, knowing I will be soaked by the time this ordeal is over. I return and her bath water has filled. In she goes. I scrub and scrub between gagging over the smell of her. I think we must have had a cow grazing in our backyard.

Finally I get her bathed, I blow dry her, hoping that still she could go to work with me. She is looking pretty good and is almost dry. Okay, I think I’ll try taking her to work. But first I’ll take her out to the front yard to go before I put her in the truck.

We walk a few houses up so she gets the urge, but alas, no she doesn’t. She does start sniffing in the grass again and guess what she finds? You guessed. Poo(p). She scoops it up in her mouth (OH GROSS SUGAR) and I have to retrieve it because she is not going to drop this.

Back to the house we go to clean her up again. Guess what? She didn’t come back to work with me. She is in the Sugar Shack again.

Officially Closed

 We finished closing the camper for the winter over this past weekend. We had taken most of the food and items that would freeze last weekend but the car was loaded to the max. We finished that chore, cleaned out the shed for anything that might freeze, and cleared out the fridge in the shed and unplugged it. Ken winterized the lines and emptied the tanks.

I like to scrub the camper with Murphy's Oil Soap before we close it, making sure all the cupboards are clean, the walls are wiped down and the floor scrubbed. When we open the camper during the winter or in the spring, the clean smell is still in there. I just love that!!

Hopefully we will have some decent weather this winter so we can spend an occasional weekend out there. The campground Thanksgiving dinner will be held this weekend but not sure we will be able to make it.

 *****

 It is now day 5 of Nanowrimo and I am a little behind where I should be, but not by much. I have about 5300 words written and will write some more tonight. Hopefully I will get caught up. I didn't get as much writing done over the weekend as I had hoped but that is okay. I'll get there.

Have a great week. I'll post when I can.

Happy Halloween

Hi There and Happy Halloween!

This is my first official Halloween. I heard we were supposed to get some things called witches and goblins knocking on our door later today to celebrate. I'm not real sure what it is we are celebrating but I know I sure look cute in my costume.

Wait....wait.....now Mama says the goblins (I wonder if that is part of a turkey?) aren't coming tonight because of some lady named Sandy who made everything real wet and rainy around a lot of the country. I wonder why she did that? I would get in trouble if I wet all over the place.

So now I have to wait until Saturday to see all the fun costumes. Maybe it will be dry enough that I can wear my costume and sit at the door or on the porch and help pass out candy. I sure like all the kids!

Behave Sandy because I really want to celebrate Halloween. I hope everyone gets to celebrate today or another day soon, once it dries out where you live.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Getting Ready for Nanowrimo

 


http://www.nanowrimo.org

I have spent the last couple days getting ready for my attempt in November to write 50,000 words. I have checked out a couple of the forums on the Nanowrimo website, filled out my profile, and checked out where some "write ins" will be held. The first one is Nov. 1 which is the first day of writing. I am going to skip that one because I need to sit down and get started and I know I will want to chat with the people if I go. Not that I don't want to get to know them but I don't want to waste any "writing time" on the first day.

Last night I got my desk at home in order making sure I had lots of space to work without clutter.

I am still trying to figure out what the novel will be about. Some people on the website have their characters defined, an outline done, and an idea of what the novel will be. Not me. I have written down some ideas and will just wait and see what my muse tells me to write. Then I plan to let my fingers fly over the keyboard and let the words fill up pages. (I used to do medical transcription so my fingers really do fly over the keys.)

One of the suggestions I read on the website said to just let the novel take place,  no editing along the way, let it be fun, even if it doesn't make sense. I guess that would be okay, it would be a way of discipline to just write. One person said they had a great idea for a novel so they chose the November writing challenge as a good time to work on it. But it didn't work out well because their inner editor kept making changes along the way and she didn't finish the 50,000 words. She did finish the novel but it took her two years. So this November I am not planning to write the "great" novel that everyone wants to read but plan to write write write. If it turns out to be the wonderful piece that I feel could get published, I will do all the editing I can and try to get it published. I have a few pages started on a novel that I think could be very interesting but won't work on that until after this is over. Maybe after writing so much in November, working on the idea that I think is good will be easier.

I looked at some of my writing that was sitting in folders, in composition books, and in a notebook. I was surprised at how good some of it actually was. I guess putting it down and coming back to it makes it look better.

Well, I better let my brain work on some more ideas and see if I come up with something.

Wish me luck!!

Levonne Kickstarts her Creativity

I follow a blog written by Levonne Gaddy http://www.levonnegaddy.com/. She is a very talented photographer, writer and artist. She has started a new venture on a site called Kickstarter.

I had never heard of this program or site before Levonne let me know about it. Artists can start a venture on this site, give a synopsis or sample of what they plan to create and then ask people to support the venture if it is something they would like to see come to fruition.

If the artist meets the financial goal they have set by a certain date, anyone who chose to support the project will have their credit card processed. If the artist does not meet the goal set, no one will have anything charged to their card.

Levonne is writing a book, This Restless Life, about her experiences in the California parks, showing photographs she has taken, and then creating collages of her feelings regarding those photos or experiences below the photo. The samples she has given are awesome and the project appears to be a great idea.

With her talent and drive, this could turn out to be a really good artistic adventure. To check out her project, go to this site. She gives a great description and video regarding this venture.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1778487749/this-restless-life?ref=card

Good Luck Levonne!

Pretty, Scary, Froggy and Fat

Things are looking like Halloween around here. Yesterday Ken and I went to Austin's elementary school to watch the students parade around the block in their costumes.  There were many cute and scary costumes but one young man especially stole our hearts. Yes Austin that is you!

Today Leisure Lake hosted many Halloween events including bingo for the kids, a party and costume contest for the children, hayride trick or treat, adult costume contest, potluck dinner, haunted hayride, and finally karaoke at the clubhouse.





 We had a couple visitors here for the children's activities. Ashlyn and Danica were the "Pretty" from the title above. Danica was a skull witch while Ashlynn was dressed in 50's garb with the poodle skirt, ponytail and scarf around the neck and ponytail.

I think they just noticed something behind them!

Later we went to an impromptu Halloween party at Karin's where we found something very scary.


Andrew, the Bloody Mess!



 Then we came upon something rather fat (sorry Aaron, but you have blown up a bit since we last saw you.)














The A-Team together

This morning Sugar put her costume on again for a short time. She wore it to her first Halloween Parade yesterday when she went to see Austin at school. Lots of people were referring to her as "Froggy," a perfect name for a little dog who loves to put dead toads and frogs in her mouth while out walking.

Trick or treat in our area is not until Wednesday, so we will be seeing lots more characters for sure!