Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween, everybody out there in Blogland!! My kids carved the pumpkins above: Brittany did the cat, Tyler did the Jolly Jack in the middle, and Amanda did the cool anime Boston Terrier, fashioned after our very own little Capone. Behind the pumpkins, you can see part of the view from our bay window.

Here they are in their costumes: Tyler is Darth Vader, Brittany is Tinkerbell (I got her to change her mind and wear this one so I won't have to make the Elizabeth Swann super-elaborate dress. . . until the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean, part III this coming summer), and Amanda is the Grimm Fairy. As you can tell, we all really get into the holiday spirit and love dressing up!! In a few minutes, we're gonna scarf down a ton of candy and watch some horror movies! We loooooove Halloween!

Tomorrow is the starting day for the big NaNoWriMo project, and I can not wait to get started! I think it will be a lot of fun, a lot of work, and a good excuse to stay up day and night chugging gallons of coffee!

I did finish the pair of mittens I was knitting in time to get my October credit for the Knittin' Mitten KAL. I was gonna post a picture of them here, but I'm afraid blogger would swallow them - it took a while to get the other two pics to go through.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

October socks are done

I finished Amanda's pair of Harebell Lace socks, from the Sensational Knitted Socks book. I think they turned out pretty well! And yes, they are actually the same height; the one just isn't pulled up all the way.

I finally got started on this month's mittens, so I should be able to finish the pair by Monday. I cranked out over half of the first one while watching Steven King's 'It' this afternoon. Yep, ole Pennywise the clown is just as spooky the second time I watched him.

Yesterday was Brittany's 17th birthday! We celebrated by going out for pizza and to see the movie "A Nightmare Before Christmas" in Disney 3-D, way cooler than the original version!

Visitors

We are puppy-sitting for some friend of ours, so now we have the patter of 8 extra paws for the next few days! They are the grown puppies of my Maizy and Capone and we really enjoy having them come to visit. It is so much fun watching all 6 little Bostons running around playing! Here is a picture from one of their previous visits last year. (They are actually closer in size than it looks in the picture, but the ones on the left are scooted a little forward and look bigger, and the ones on the right are scrunched down.)

From left to right are Boom-Boom and Rudy Duke (our houseguests), mama Maizy and daddy Capone, and our Gracie and Pixi on the right.

I added a Wonderland Kennels button to the sidebar, in case y'all want to see what I spend some of my non-bloggin' time on.

I also added a list of the some of the blogs I visit to the sidebar. These were the first ones that popped into my head last night, so I'll be adding some more. If I normally stalk your blog and you don't see your's listed over there, let me know and I'll probably add it! :)

Not much going on here, but I thought I'd make a quick post. You can tell fall is here, big time. The weather has turned cold, so you have to wrap up to go outside. The tree look pretty, though, with all the yellow leaves falling and blowing all over the ground. I like fall, so long as it isn't raining or too dang cold.

The big NaNoWriMo kicks off in one week. Anybody else out there trying that this year? It sounds like fun so I'm gonna give it a whirl, and I'm looking forward to it.

I only like half a sock having the blue October pair finished. I did buy yarn for knitting each of the kids a pair of mittens, so I need to get a pair of those cranked out before Halloween, too. Plus the damn Elizabeth Swan costume . . . but time limits can make a person get stuff finished, so we'll see how it all comes out.

Not a good week

Sorry I've been away from bloggin' for the past few days. My uncle passed away on the 18th of October. The funeral was yesterday, so things should be getting back to normal around here very soon.

I did get one of those blue socks finished just this morning. I need to get this pair and some mittens done for this months KALs. And with Halloween coming up my 16-year-old daughter, Brittany, has me making a costume fancier than my prom dress was! If I get this right, she is going to be Elizabeth Swan from "Pirates of the Caribean, Part Two, Curse of the Black Pearl". So I would think my hands and mind should be more than occupied these next few days!

Redecorated the blog!

Yes, I finally got around to redecorating the blog, 'cuz I was sick to near puking looking at that old pink template. I think this one looks cool! Please excuse the ginormous letters on most of the old posts, unless I go back and edit every one of them.

My whole family is sick with a second flu bug, real fun after just getting over a horrible cold/sore throat/cough. So I'm surrounded by germy, cranky people right now, plus I'm sure I'm a real joy to them, too! LOL

And on the knitting front, I decided what to do with the yarn I bought in a color totally unsuitable for the cardigan I was gonna make. I'm going to make a few pairs of socks with it. I have the leg of one nearly done now in a nice pattern, the yarn has a really nice feel to it, and since it's sport weight, it seems to be knitting up pretty quickly. My daughter Amanda loves the color blue, so this pair is for her. Want to hear something amazing? I gave her a choice of 5 stitch patterns I was condsidering for her socks, and she actually picked the same one I liked the best!! In case you aren't the parent of a teenage girl, please note that this usually never happens in the real world!

Yarn confusion, too many choices

The next thing on my already too long to-do list is to write down the yardage/ounces/grams of what types of yarn (and in which colors) I need for the projects I plan to make. Why would I want to be that anal about it? I went a yarn store a few days ago, stayed there for a solid hour boring my 16-year-old daughter near to tears, wandering around dead set on picking the perfect yarn for one of the three projects I had in mind. I'd be all set to check out, then remember that I needed bulky instead of the worsted weight I had picked. Then we'd go back, I'd look and look, then decide to doing something else. I had confused myself so bad by the time I left, that I ended up buying some okay yarn in a color that isn't really gonna look that great. . . So, next time I'm either gonna go prepared with an overly detailed list or chain myself to the computer and buy the exact right thing on the internet.

I signed up for Swapbot! Sounds like fun, so you might want to check it out. I didn't know it existed until a few days ago. I signed up for a letter swap, so I'll see how it goes.

I am really planning to redecorate this blog as soon as I can squeeze in a spare minute. I want a new background, a different picture, and I want to add links to some of the cool blogs I visit. Hopefully it'll get done by this weekend. We'll see. I have to do that and figure out what to do with the too blue yarn I just bought and don't really like . . .

Nut Club Fall Festival

We had a great time last night at the Nut Club Fall Festival in Evansville, Indiana! If you're not from around here, this is a HUGE street fair - the second largest one in the country next to Mardi Gras -the road is blocked off, over 120 food venders line both sides of the street, a stage is set up in the middle, rides and games galore as far as you can see, thousands of people milling around. . . a little slice of October heaven! As for the food, this is so not just your staple elephant ears and hot dogs, oh no. They do have those, but the air is filled with the aroma of everything from the odd to the exotic: brain sandwiches (I know, GAG, not this girl, but a bunch of people like it, for some reason that I will never understand), alligator jerky, Scorpion pops (yep, real farm raised ones captured in a sucker! These sold out before we arrived), chocolate covered grasshoppers, giant turkey legs, plus all the normal favorites. I am a pesco ovo vegetarian (which means I don't eat any meat or dairy products, but do eat eggs and the occasional seafood) so I passed on the bar-b-que; I had a portabella mushroom fajita, fried pickle spears with maranara sauce, turtle apples (Oh, God, these were gooooood. Apples slices ooooozing in warm caramel sauce and chocolate, sprinkled with bunches of chopped pecans), a lemon shake-up, and a few bites of the kids' deep-fried candy bar. Okay, so now I'll shut up about the food. The picture you should see to the right is my 11-year-old son, Tyler, and his ginormous Sonic! He won it playing the carni game where you throw little rings at a mass of beer bottles, and he actually won!! Boy, is he proud of himself!

Here is picture of the pretty scissors fob I won from Woven 'N Spun. Thanks, Kimberly!

Two Great Links for Parents, Homeschoolers, or Aspiring Poets

I just ran across two excellent links that I had to share.

This first one is especially for homeschooling moms and dads, or anyone with poetic aspirations. Shadow Poetry is a site brimming with resources for exploring and learning all about every aspect of poetry. You can find indepth descriptions of all the different types of poetry - with examples! Who hasn't needed to know the exact difference between a sonnet, a limerick, and a haiku?! (I think other homeschooling moms know what I mean. . . Kids will ask question during their lessons and dang well expect you to give an Encyclopedic answer on the spot.) A page on famous poets has clickable links to their respective biographies and works. Their 'Handbook' is a glossary of all the terms and definitions. For added interest, they even have a Contest page open to all adults and children 13 and over. To sum this site up, I am really impressed with this site and look forward to using it. It will be a great resource for teaching my homeschool kids - PLUS it could very well inspire me to pursue my dreams of one day being a published author.

The other link is for anyone, especially parents, who needs to be on the lookout for perverts. Family Watchdog lets you type in your adress, then a map pops up showing your house and all the registered sex offenders in your neighborhood! You can click on the little squares that represent the child molestors, rapists, etc, and you will get to see an actual picture of the offender, their address, their criminal history, and convictions. I live way out in the sticks on the outskirts of a very Mayberryish town; when I typed in my address, I found that two child molestors live less than 10 minutes away!! SPOOOOOOKY.

Two finished knittin' projects

I finished my 'Granny's No Square Handbag', as you can see on the left. I think it will look better when it's not empty. It was kinda fun to crochet for a change.

My day started off pretty nicely. I actually won a cool prize on the Knittin' Mittens KAL, and I can't wait for it to arrive! Don't worry, I'll post a pic as soon as it gets here.

I also whipped up this little cell phone case this afternoon. Came up with the pattern all on my own as I went, with leftover yarn so it was technically free. Okay, so its nothing that spectacular - as a matter of fact, the purple Bernat Boa yarn I used as trim looks a little odd in the photo - but a person has to start their designing endeavors somewhere, right!

Dog, the Bounty Hunter

Okay, so now is my turn to jump on the soapbox about something that I find to be just plain WRONG.

Dog, the bounty hunting star of his reality tv show, is getting a raw deal from our own government, not to mention Mexico. In case you haven't heard the scoop on what's going on, let me fill ya in. About three years ago Duane 'Dog' Chapman, along with his grown son, Leland, and brother, Tim (also bounty hunters), tracked one of America's Most Wanted down in Mexico and took him into custody. This criminal was Andrew Lester, heir to the Max Factor fortune and convicted American serial rapist of many, many women; I believe he was convicted on over 80 counts of rape.

So what's the deal then? Dog should be a national hero, right? Well, he and his posse were arrested by Mexican officials in Mexico while Luster was still in their custody because bounty hunting is illegal there. So they got out on bond and came home while Luster was sent directly to jail in the good ole USA, where he will hopefully stay and rot out the rest of his worthless life. Dog and crew never went back below the border (Who the hell can blame them. We're talking about Mexican Prison here!! Hello!)

Fast forward three years to the middle of September 2006. These three American heros, keeping our country safe by operating a family bounty hunting/bond business from Hawaii, were roused out of bed by having guns pointed at them as they were handcuffed in front of their family......by AMERICAN OFFICIALS. Yes folks, it looks like our very own government could so very easily step in and dismiss any possiblity of extradition; the government should be greatful to these men for doing something they could NOT do, which was bring the sick perverted Luster back to jail to serve his sentence.

I can't recall how long Dog, Leland, and Tim Chapman were in our American penal system before getting released - with ankle monitors shackled to their legs - but in this blogger's opinion, even one minute was far too long. They have to stand trial to see if they are going to be sold down the river to Mexico, where they could face between six months and four years in those ungodly concentration camps they call prison. Some way for good ole Uncle Sam to treat these heros, huh?!

So what does that have to do with me and why am I telling everyone in cyberland about it? Because it is just wrong. Because I'm very proud of the country in which I live, but I'm very ashamed of the workings of our government. Because I tell my kids that when you feel strongly about something, you should do something about it. I'm only one small little mad redhead, but if nothing else, I can voice my opinion of the situation. The last time I checked the bill of rights, free speech was still legal here. . . but I ask you, how long can we count on that or anything else when our government has become so corrupt as to sell out one of its very own heros?