Block Party

We had so much fun with Halloween this year! It's two weeks of kids bouncing off walls because they can't wait for everything to begin! We always start the festivities with a trip to Boo at the Zoo. We have a progressive Halloween party. Our neighborhood block party fits in there somewhere. And, of course, there's Trick or Treat night. This year, all my kids had to dress up five different times for various festivities.

Last night we had our block party. Now, this is quite an event. One of our neighbors is a chef and we have REAL FOOD. He brings out two enormous grills and creates the most wondrous food. Grilled shrimp, ribs, etc. Oh, the RIBS. I think my eyes start rolling back in my head as soon as I start to smell them! BUT, there is more to come...

Here are a couple of pics of last year's party. I had to include them b/c I didn't post them last year and Charlie's grand save of the the grilled meat was truly a brave feat.





Everyone gave a gasp of relief when dinner was saved! ;) Although, I have to say, there was so much food that I'm not sure it would have been missed.

Now, look in the tin tub of soup. Know what that is? Here's a better picture.



Go ahead. You can drool. That's LOBSTER BISQUE!!! Have you EVER seen that much lobster bisque at a block party? Plus, it's the BEST lobster bisque in town. It really is. I think I DREAM about this lobster bisque for the weeks leading up to the party. I bee line straight for it.

This year, I was distracted by picture taking so I asked my husband to get a cup of it for me.



You might THINK that cup in his hand was for me. OH NO! It was NOT. He was so delighted to be eating LOBSTER BISQUE that he neglected to collect my cup of soup. I actually had to stop snapping pictures and get my own. IMAGINE! ;) I believe he had to live that down for the rest of the evening because quite a few people heard our exchange. I really enjoyed that!!! :) In his defense, it does make you forget everything else while you are eating it.



Obviously, I found time to feast. :) Here are a couple of pics of the entire layout.





And my plate... it's a bit blurry b/c my hand was trembling in anticipation of digging in. YUM!



You don't want to know how quickly my plate turned into this. Can you believe I couldn't finish everything? So much yummy food! I definitely need a second stomach for these occasions.



Others did more justice to their plates and then enjoyed displaying bones like a skeleton hand. :) (We are easily amused at these parties.) ;)



We even had dessert. Now, our house was one of the houses responsible for dessert. I LOVE dessert. :) I wanted to make something easy to eat but still festive, so I made candy corn cookies. Which may or may not have been successful because my neighbor thought they were monster teeth. AHEM! Although, when tested as monster teeth, we decided he did have a point. Oh well. I made way too many and now we have a bunch of them here, tempting me.





I think I need to invite someone over for cookies and tea!

Well, after all that food, I have to go nap now. It may take me days and days to recover...

I'm always the last to know...

Well, evidently, this has been around for awhile and everyone has seen it but me. I laughed until I nearly cried! Maybe it's because I have 2 herding dogs. (Not that they herd, but they just know they could if we would buy them some sheep. In the meantime, they practice on our cats... to the dismay of the cats.)

"What Welshmen Do When They Are Bored."



And if the herding dog video doesn't make you laugh, try this one. :)



Ah, pugs. Just one brick shy of a load. Gotta love 'em. I didn't realize until after I'd posted that it was not very nice to make the sweet pug video follow up those top-notch, brilliant border collies. ;)

Castle - ABC

If you have missed out on seeing Castle on ABC, here's the complete episode 4 from this season. It's quite good! Castle is my current favorite tv show.



Yep, that's Nathan Fillion from Firefly fame. He plays a famous mystery writer (named Castle) and there is only one way to describe his role in the show, charming. The funny part is that you can actually buy Castle's latest book, which they highlight in this episode. It's on Amazon and supposed to be pretty good!

You can keep the cows at YOUR local fair...

This past weekend marked our county's country fair and our local Octoberfest celebration.

We have all the usual fairings and exhibits. But I noticed one rather unusual addition this year.


You can have your cows and pigs at YOUR fair. At ours, "there be 'DRAGONS' here." See the "Dragons, Emergency Exit" on the back of the bus? That's right. They bus them in. But still, all in all, a fascinating diversion for the fair goers, wouldn't you agree? They put the dragons to work firing up the grills and toasting various foodstuffs. Dragon-flamed pulled pork, anyone? YUM! :)


I kept looking for an oversized door for them, but it was nowhere to be found. They must have been very slim dragons. :)

It Happens...Whatever

Some days are just harder to "get it all together" than others.

I used to completely let myself get upset over "the little stuff" but now, it's not so bad. Sometimes you just have to readjust your focus and decide what's actually important.

I just shrugged when I couldn't find a single pair of hose this morning. Oh well. It's still warm outside. I will eventually find that new box of SIX pairs that I just bought.

I just shrugged when I used my daughter's conditioner for the first time and discovered I used WAY too much...and had to redo my hair...when I was running late. Hey, at least my hair is really soft today!

I just shrugged when I had no time to eat breakfast and discovered my "emergency" food stash in the van had suspiciously disappeared. Okay, that one was harder to shrug off. I'm a beast when I am hungry.

And I made it through. It was actually a good day! Kind of relaxing after the initial trial by fire.

Although, I just heard a rather loud noise upstairs. I suspect a catastrophe of some sort. I better run!

Or walk. I don't actually hear any screaming...or see any streams of blood...