More Carving

This truly is one of my favorite fun and creative projects for this time of year.  We had another pumpkin carving session last night for our party this weekend.

I think our kids have just as much fun with it as I do!!

Who let him handle the battery powered pumpkin knife!?!?!  Yike (as Boy, himself, would say - singular - as if the situation only calls for one slight bit of panic)!!  (Oh, and that's a small glimpse of yours truly right there.  Can't believe I'm putting this out there...)

Sweetpea used her creative spark to come up with a new way of decorating pumpkins involving push pins.

Cool design!!

Here's Nick - deep in concentration.

One pumpkin in my totem pole needed replaced...

Hopefully, we can have one more pumpkin carving session before Halloween actually arrives.  Today, I have 3 sick children, some paperwork, laundry, onions, and garlic to take care of.

Wishing you all a lovely day!

Coming to Grips with Geekiness...

I am a geek.  With a capital "G".  It's true, and I'm learning to admit it.  I love love love math.  Always have.  How, you are probably wondering, can I even claim to NOT be a Geek when I love math and went to school to earn a couple of math degrees.  Well, in my mind, I am not a Geek because I don't wear a pocket protector (absolutely no offense to any pocket protector wearing geeks or non-geeks).  And because if you just met me, you would never think "Geek" from my appearance (what exactly does a Geek look like anyway?) or from most of my actions.  But every once in a while, the words "I just love my calculator" (which is a TI-81 from back when I was in high school) slip unwittingly out of my mouth.  And then I have to at least pretend to admit my geekness.

So, with that confession behind me, it should come as no surprise to you all, that I love numbers.  Numbers, the theory of numbers specifically, is my favorite branch of mathematics.  The more abstract and seemingly useless, the better!  Numbers, however, happen to also come in handy once in a while.  Like when you are balancing your checkbook.  I have the utmost respect for numbers, but when they don't add up, they start to wear on my patience.  They should add up.  It just makes sense.  But sometimes they don't.

Today, was one such day.  I am, or should I say was, one of those people who cannot rest until every last stray penny has been found hanging loose in the pocketbook that is my checkbook.  I study and scour until I have located the mistake, even if it takes me hours or days...  even if it is only for 2 cents.  Today, I did not.  Today, after about a month of on and off looking for a stray couple dollars that somehow jumped out of my checkbook, or got lost under that little staple holding the pages together in that little fold, I have learned to let go and move on.  Yes.  I have let go of that error that cannot be found.  I have adjusted the total to compensate for the mistake.

This was a very painful process for me.  Another reason I know I am a Geek.  But I did it.  And now I can move on...

...  to putting my children to bed and sitting on the couch and enjoying a movie!!!  I think I deserve it.  :o)

Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins has become my favorite part of our Fall and Halloween celebrations.

Each year, we get together with my husbands family to carve bunches of pumpkins for our Halloween party.

Everyone got in on the action.

It rained buckets here on Saturday, so we got very few pictures of our masterpieces.  Nick did manage to get some pictures of my favorite creation - my jack-o-lantern totem. 

I hope to get some more pictures of our carvings from this year, but while we are waiting, I'll leave you with one of my favorites from last year...

Happy October everyone! 

Do you carve pumpkins or have any special fall/halloween traditions?

Pumpkin Stems

I love pumpkin stems!  They can be so cool looking.  You can play the 'cloud game' with some of the stems.  What does this one look like to you?

Looks like a dragon to me.  Or a long-necked dinosaur head.

Or a praying mantis that stuck it's finger in a light socket.

We had a great time picking pumpkins from our local organic farm yesterday.  We picked them right out of the field and hauled them back to our car.  Well, me and Boy did the heavy work.  Munch took care of a very lonesome Sweetpea - helping her walk through all the pumpkin vines and choose the perfect little pumpkins for such a perfect little pumpkin.

My husband and his sisters put on a huge Halloween party each year at the beginning of October, when the weather here in Northeastern Ohio is still nice and fairly predictable (is it really ever?).  We have been tending more toward the jack-o-lantern for decorations these last few years.  Last night we gutted lots and lots of pumpkins.  Tonight we will carve them.

Since I am way behind on my list of things to do before the party, the pics of the pumpkin gutting will have to wait to be included with the pics of the pumpkin carving - tomorrow, hopefully.  Today I have to finish sewing a hat, sew a skirt, make some pumpkin cookies, and do all the other everyday stuff that comes with being a stay at home homeschooling mom of 3 lovely, but highly energetic, children.

Till tomorrow...

Getting Ready to Haul Wood

BYE!!!!!!!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful day today!  It's going to be sunny and 72 degrees here!  And we are going to pick some pumpkins.  What are you doing today?

In My Garden

I spent much of Sunday in my severely neglected garden.  Thankfully, it's that time of year where things are more or less taking care of themselves.  (At least that's what I tell myself when I can't make it out there...)

We are still getting lots of lovely veggies.

Some things, I was expecting - tomatoes, peppers...  Other things were complete surprises - beans, gourds (that I did NOT plant)...

I have been slowly learning how to use our camera.  The garden provides lots and lots of opportunities to practice.  Flowers in the garden are always a wonderful sight, but especially at this time of year when everything is settling back to the earth.

Calming Chamomile...

One of my new favorite flowers - four o'clocks.  I love them.

Looks like a hummingbirds dream flower to me, although I have not seen any on them.

My pepper beds - loaded with peppers and zinnias.  This has to be one of my favorite veggie/flower combinations to plant in my garden.

Amongst all the colorful flowers, you can see the beginnings of the gardens winter hibernation.

A lonesome butternut squash peeking out from behind the dying tomato plants.

Happy snapdragons.  How could they not be happy?

And last on the tour of the garden today is the lovely volunteer black-eyed susan that wanders from place to place each year.  She always brings a smile to my face when I notice she has come back to visit.

What's still growing in your garden?  What makes you smile to see this time of year?

 

Nature Hike

I'm back!  I've been feeling overwhelmed with everything, so I thought we would take an afternoon and head over to our local organic farm for a nature hike.  They have a few trails going through the woods there.  It's so lovely and peaceful.

We set off down the trail.

One by one.

With our nature bags, set for some exploring.

Following up the rear?  Our very own woodland flower fairy.  I picked up this cute little costume at our local thrift store.  Sweetpea has been wearing it ever since.  Woodland flower fairies always always need their butterfly rain boots.  Even if there is not one single chance of rain.

We wound through the woods, sometimes happy, sometimes not quite so.  Hooking up with the dirt road, we headed back to the pumpkin and corn fields.  It was a scorcher that day - up at 90 - and everyone was hot and tired.  But they were troupers. 

On our way back, we turned aside to do a little more exploring

with munch and our flower fairy leading the way.

Lots of time was spent studying this small grove of trees...

looking for magical creatures, interesting bugs, and noteworthy plants.

While I sat back here and took it all in.

You can probably just barely make them out in the picture.  I was set to guard the food and bags from any ferocious being that came along wanting a granola bar.

We left the farm that day with a bag of butternuts, a green cabbage, several armfuls of field corn for decorating and projects, and another adventure under our belts.