Happy Thanksgiving

So here it is, a mere two days away... Thanksgiving.  Among other things, it means that Christmas is a month away (less than that come Thursday) and right behind that is New Years.  

Yikes!  

Today was the last day of school (before the break) for the kids and with that came the "feast" at school.  They used to have a feast for the K-2 kids, but sometime after the new principal took over it was stopped.  After an inquisition (and some fighting to get it reinstated) this was the first year it was back.  So we spent the afternoon at the school watching the Thanksgiving performance which was followed by the feast... it appeared to me that all the kids were enjoying it.  

Then again it could be that lunch was almost two hours later than normal.

One funny line that came out of the day came when we were taking everyone home and Julie was sitting in the back with Rachael and Lyndsey. First off, I'd like to preface this by saying that Julie has a penchant for mixing up her sayings and the transposing of words, this also translates to (at times) everyday conversation.  

So as not to appear that I'm picking on Julie here, I have a penchant to misspell words... I am a poor speller... you have no idea.  Without spellcheck (and dictionary.com) you'd see just how woeful it is.  I also take liberties with grammar and punctuation in general, but that's my (for as much as I have one) style.  

Anyhow, we're driving home and I overhear the conversation coming from the back and it's Julie talking (asking) Rachael a question.  Every so often, our kids go through a phase where they lick their lips and consequently end up chapping them.  This might be one of those things that you just had to be there for, but just for the sake of wrapping this up... Julie's question to Rachael was this;  "Rachael... have you been lipping your licks again?"

Say what?

Gobble Gobble

  

Rolling down the highway

Well, after being assisted by an Indiana Trooper, they (Emmah and Julie's aunt and uncle) made their way off the highway and to a motel.

They made Macon, GA last night and as I sit and type they are en-route to Orlando. It's funny to talk to Emmah as they go, I can hear in her voice (well what I perceive to be) a certain "I miss you tone" in her voice... she sounded the same way when she was calling from camp earlier this year.

This just in... they have arrived in Orlando and I have been told (by Emmah) that the Magic Kingdom is open until 2am! She sounded downright giddy... perhaps it's was because she was with her cousin. Perhaps it was because she was talking to me... doubtful. Perhaps it was because she was finally there. I'd like to think that it was a combination of the three, but common sense tells me that I had nothing to do with her giddiness. So they are there and now the "real fun" begins.

The midnight ramblers

The perils of midnight ramblings are (perhaps) not so many, but perilous just the same. So it would seem is the case of Emmah and Julie's aunt and uncle this night... or morning pending perspective.

They were embarking on a Florida or bust trip. A trip to reunite/visit with Emmah's cousin who due to a job transfer recently moved down there (that would be her dad got transferred and not her, the cousin) for a three day Disney extravaganza. So, we got her all packed in their van and said our good-byes and stood in the cold alley sending them off as they left around 8pm Friday night... destination of Chattanooga as a stopping point. Which caused me to ponder for a moment... how many people driving from Chicago to Florida stop there as the half way point? Countless I imagine, I know I have.

Alas... Chattanooga was going to have to wait as the bust in "Florida or bust" was being felt... and by bust I don't mean there was a raid on their van. Ladies and gentleman, I give you New Albany, IN... just outside of Louisville. One of the four newly (proactively) purchased tires decided it didn't want to... um... roll anymore and went like my backside... flat. And at a very inconvenient time... while they were driving. The nerve! 2am is not exactly a time that comes to mind if someone were to ask, "So Jeff, if you could pick a time to get a flat, what would be your ideal time?" And in that same vein 22 degrees isn't the ideal t-t-t-temperature t-t-to be w-w-working out-s-s-side (and I sh-sh-sh-should know) and in the dark no less. So a call was put in to 911 to get some roadside assistance.

How do I know all this? We were calling every few hours or so to check in on them as they drove on through the night... as they did to/for us as we were embarking on our Make-A-Wish trip last year. Not that we can (at 3am) do anything about it, but we're going to wait up until they are (yawn... hopefully soon) safely tucked in somewhere before we tuck ourselves in.

The starting of a bizarre tradition?

Bizarre in the sense that because it is us, it's normal.

What's the potential tradition? It's a tradition that most of us have partaken in and that is carving pumpkins... you know for Halloween. As in before Halloween. So as to have them as display for decoration.

Due to the evaporative/sagging free time around here, and the increased costume production in conjunction with just trying to stay afloat financially (and emotionally), things get put on the back burner. Depending on what time of the year determines what gets procrastinated.

Last year Halloween approached and the pumpkins remained uncarved. They eventually succumbed to the knife on the day of.

This year?

A little different... we have six (whole and uncarved) pumpkins sitting on the floor mocking us. So we will carve them if for no other reason to show them (the pumpkins) that we haven't given up on the spirit.

Leave it to us to never learn. Every year after Julie pulls all-nighters (sometimes in succession) in an attempt to get costumes done on time, when THE day comes and goes... we laugh as she proclaims that next year will be different.

What's that they say about the definition of crazy/insane? Something like doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different outcome each time? I think that Pavlov himself would've thrown his hands up in disgust had he based his studies on us.

Perhaps we can carve Thanksgiving or Christmas scenes.

Where is Godzilla when you need him?

Ladybug ladybug fly away home... just not to our home.

With it being just about over (in conjunction with the cooler weather) the annual attacking/infestation of ladybugs is coming to an end. It still amazes me to see them all over the place... in and out. They somehow find their way in and then flock to the windows seemingly wanting to get out. Every fall we end up with our share of them hanging around the windows and walking on the ceilings of various rooms and every fall you'd think that Mothra was attacking.

I would like to add that these are the same kids that I've managed to get them to allow them (the ladybugs) to walk on their hands and arms and such... but get them in the house and it's...

AHHHH! Run for your lives... it's Mothra!











Godzilla save us!!!!

Happy? November

WHOOSH!!!

Here it is already November 1st... NOVEMBER!

Hope all you trick-o-treaters had a good time last night. For the second year in a row, our group of trick-o-treaters went somewhere else other than our street. You see, trick-o-treating on our street is to be part of the spectacle in of itself.

How so?

They come by the car load. They come by the bus load... I figure it won't be long before they are air dropped in.

I want you to picture in your mind that image (or experience) of going to a public place like an amusement park, the zoo, a ball game... fleeing a hurricane. Now imagine that same crowd wandering up, down and all about your street. In a span of about two blocks, there are literally hundreds (and this is not an exaggeration either) perhaps approaching a thousand plus of people/children all out candy gathering for the fall harvest. The crops are in!

So it was recently decided in an effort to extract some pleasure out of this event to leave... we leave. We left last year to a different town entirely. This year Julie loaded them up and drove them to another part of town... roughly 1/2 mile away. Why just Julie you ask? I wanted to try and get some lingering work done on the house. (I started something last weekend and because of costume production this past week had been unable in my attempts to finish said started project... so I stayed behind to work on it.) Anyway, as it began getting darker, I felt the urge to wander out front to experience the crowd (and it is a crowd)... to see it up close and personal. I also decided to pay a visit to my neighbor as they were handing out candy.

And now it's time for Jeff's Safety Tip: To escape your house, you don't wander out your front door... that would be the equivalent to suicide. You're only option is to slink out and down the alley. It's like this... what do you suspect would happen if you were to throw a old(er) piece of meat to the ground in mid-summer? In a matter of seconds, you'd have flies on it, and it wouldn't be long before you wouldn't even be able to see the meat at all having been swarmed. Go out your front door and you are the meat...

As I stood on my neighbor's porch watching and talking, they brought up the first Halloween they were here. Our neighbor in between us asked them if they were ready and if they had enough candy. Their reply was yes, we have a couple of bags. To which the veteran neighbor laughed (probably mumbled under their breath 'rookie') and politely informed them they were going to need more than that. Our newbie neighbor was astounded that they had to send someone out for reinforcements. We need more candy... more candy stat!

I remember growing up and giving out candy (and to expedite the handing out of candy) we'd sometimes take out the top half of the storm door so as not to have to open it every single time.

Here?

People here don't even bother to stay in their house. They set up shop outside bringing out chairs and tables to their porches or lawns to sit and distribute candy... it doesn't pay to do anything else... it's almost like tailgating.

Once that bell goes off and they start arriving, it's literally a steady stream of people... a constant flow that doesn't stop until one of two things happen... the curfew for trick-o-treating elapses, or (and this is often the case) you run out of candy. You see, handing out candy here is like getting ready for the big game... getting ready to do battle... it is an event for everyone living on this street. Here's another image for you... the floor of the stock exchange. When the starting bell goes off people start shouting, phones start ringing, people start jumping, papers start flying... in a word chaos... then the end bell rings and all's quiet. It's like that here, complete to the last detail of phones ringing. I can't speak as to how it is on that floor after the end bell, but for us candy slingers there's a "whew" as you wipe your brow. Pleased in having survived the onslaught and looking forward to the icing of your arm from the repetitive motion of reaching in the bowl and extending to the bag... bowl bag, bowl bag (us veterans having learned to switch arms) you go in and plop.

To place it in perspective... the police close off our street! I have never been a part of anything like it, that is until moving here. What's the attraction? Well, it's a combination of things I think, nice area, nice street but the main attraction is a house a few doors down and across the street... the haunted house as it's known. They, every year, make a haunted attraction out of their entire lawn. Basically setting up a labyrinth in their front lawn leading the wanters of candy through it all, adding to it year after year... it's noisy and quite the light show with the flashing of the strobe light and the rotating red (police like) light. They must do a bang up job, because there is always a line. While a line at that house might be expected, lines at your own house aren't, and that's when you have to decide where to ummm... draw the line. When you have to wait in line to trick-o-treat, then you might want to rethink things.

I'm still working (in my mind) on an idea I had several years back about a candy cannon... where I just fire out candy into the street and let them scrum for it... it's like a pinata without a stick.