Monthly Archives: October 2023

Dressing Up for Halloween, and Yes it’s Fun!

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Yes, it’s that time again. Halloween costumes have been all over the stores and specialty shops, and selling out quickly. Fortunately our grandkids got their costumes early, and I can’t wait to see them dressed up. Even our ten month old grandson has his first Halloween costume. He’s going to be an adorable lobster! And his mom is actually going to put on an apron and a chef’s hat and carry him around in a big cooking pot! We’ll see how long that lasts! I told her that’s the closest she’ll come to cooking this year.

And pumpkins are everywhere. It seems almost everyone has carved ones on their front steps, well, except those who have big dogs who try to eat them, or an overabundance of squirrels who try to eat them! I remember growing up and my uncle making the most beautiful jack-o’-lanterns. Over fifty years ago, he was painting faces and other designs on the pumpkins rather than carving them, because they’d last longer. He was certainly ahead of his time, and if he were still here today, I’m sure he’d still be doing it, only more elaborate.

And I have do enjoy seeing the costumes the kids are wearing when they come to our door to get their candy. The little ones are always adorable. Of course now, we celebrate with our grandchildren in their development. They look so cute, and so do their friends. To them Halloween is an excuse to dress up and get candy. And what’s wrong with that? They’ve looked so adorable over the years, and this year will be no exception, I’m sure!

pauline-and-fowler-halloween1951In fact, when I was growing up, most of us dressed up for Halloween, but very seldom in anything scary or spooky. My hometown had an annual Halloween parade, with several of the main streets blocked off so the participants could march around our little business district and the county courthouse. Children and adults paraded around streets in costumes and competed for prizes, and the streets were filled with onlookers. My aunt and uncle actually won first prize in the adult division one year, dressed as Raggedy Ann and Andy. Weren’t they looking sharp? (How many of you know who Raggedy Ann and Andy are?) And if memory serves me correctly, I think some of the local churches sponsored the parade and contributed the prizes!

Imagine how excited I was when I saw pictures on Facebook this weekend from a Halloween parade my hometown held this weekend. Not that I recognized any of the people, although I still stay in touch with some of them, and visit when we can. But I certainly recognized the local businesses, and was happy to see the church my mom and I attended there even had an entry in the parade. If I’d known about it, I’d probably have tried to go see everyone.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a Halloween parade. But they were a lot of fun! At least to us kids, and the adults who still acted like kids. It was just a fun time to enjoy ourselves, and get candy, of course!

We even dressed our dogs up one year and entered them in a costume contest at a local restaurant and they won first prize!

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These days a lot of us who actually enjoy seeing the kids dressed up, and even go with the to get their candy are told by many people that we’re worshipping the devil, by going along with Halloween. That we’re teaching our kids to do the same thing. We’ve even been called all kinds of names, and none of them good!

So let me say this to those of you who put us down for allowing our children to have fun at this time of year. We are NOT celebrating the devil. We’re not worshipping Satan. And we’re certainly not teaching our children and grandchildren anything like that. People are entitled to their opinions and so are we. But I draw the line when someone starts making rude comments like that to us on social media or in person, and especially when our grandchildren are with us. There are a lot more important things to get upset about right now than kids and adults dressing up for Halloween and bringing home candy!

I saw a post the other day about this very thing. It basically said the kids who come to your door are having fun. Nothing more. They’re enjoying being kids. So give them a bit of candy, smile at them, and tell them how cute they look. Life only gets harder as they get older, so let them enjoy this time to be a child and have some fun.

That’s what we’re going to do.

In a World Where You Can Be Anything

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Sometimes the hardest thing to be is yourself.  

Yes, I did write about this earlier, but I think this topic deserves a bit more investigation.

You certainly start out your life with hopes and dreams of what you want to do. What you want to be.

But sometimes we don’t always have the talent or the skills to be exactly what we want to be.

For instance, I could never be a singer. I love listening to country music and I admire so many of the new female artists out there. But I couldn’t do it. Because my voice isn’t their voice. Even with training, I couldn’t begin to sing like they do. But I can appreciate that art and enjoy the music. And sing their songs to myself as I work or relax.

An early dream for me was to maybe become a doctor. But that took a lot of education, and I didn’t have that motivation. Plus, the thought of drawing blood didn’t really appeal to me either.

A teacher? Like my mom? A lot of my classmates decided on that, and they were excellent at it. The found their true calling. I thought about it, and even tried it out two days in a classroom filling in for one of my mother’s friends. After that, I knew there was no way I had the patience for that either.

I actually had no idea what I wanted to do, which is why I majored in business. I figured it would give me a good background to get a job doing something.

And it did. I worked in radio and television for a short time and then found my calling as a marketing manager for a shopping mall. One thing led to another as I learned about shopping center management, and then on to a career in commercial real estate, which I’m continuing in today.

But fortunately I’m still the same person I was many years ago. I still love to read, to do craft projects, and obviously there’s writing. I just haven’t quite decided where I want to take that yet. But I have time.

Are there things I regret not doing? Of course.

Things I still want to do? Still want to try? Absolutely.

But one thing I’ve learned is that no matter what new adventure I try, what new craft or skill I put my hands to, I’m always going to be myself.

And that’s what and who I am and really want to be.

It’s Halloween Candy Time!

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And you know what that means. There are all kinds of yummy candies everywhere you look The drugstores have an entire aisle or more dedicated to candy. Bags and bags of it. And usually it’s on sale. Sometimes they even have two bags for the price of one. The grocery stores put their candy displays right in the front of the store, where it’s the first thing you see. And of course, if you’re shopping with your kids, guess what they want! And they don’t want to leave that display until there’s at least one or two bags in the shopping cart!

And even if you’re not shopping with children, it’s still a big temptation, because it’s right there in front of you, staring you in the face! Almost talking to you, or maybe shouting “BUY ME” as you try to walk past the display into the produce aisle.

Who wants to go buy salad makings and other healthy things when there’s all that candy right there in front of you with the words “SALE” in big bold letters!?

And let’s admit it, we’re all guilty of coming away from the store with at least one or two bags of Reese’s pieces or miniature candy bars hidden underneath all the other things we had on our shopping list.

The problem is, what do you do when you get home with it? Do you hide it? Put it out in full view where other family members can see it and pick at your stash? And if you do that, you’ll end up having to go back and get more!

This is a tough time of year for candy/chocolate lovers. Especially those of us who work out of the house. IT’s just too tempting.

And then there are all of the recipes out there for using your leftover Halloween candy.

Leftover Halloween candy? Is that a thing?

That’s sort of like how to use leftover wine, isn’t it? Like who really has leftover Halloween candy? (or wine?)

Well, actually, we used to have some leftover Halloween candy each year. We usually bought too much (on purpose) because we enjoy it, and even though I am still working remotely, I like to have a candy dish in my home office. And what better to fill it with than those miniature pieces of candy that are so tempting.

When our daughter was still a little girl, we would sit on the floor after trick or treating with her and our neighbor’s son and sort through all the candy, making sure it was ok to eat, of course, and then exchanging pieces back and forth if one kid didn’t like something and the other did. We all made out fairly well from the candy exchange and of course, ended up with a lot more in each house than we really needed to eat!

But now we don’t stay at home on Halloween night and give out candy, because we’re with our three grandchildren, helping our daughter and son in law with their trick or treating (and of course helping them sort out the candy between what they like and what we like)!

And then the day after Halloween, all the remaining bags of candy are marked down even more, and if you get to the store early on the day after, you can really stock up. Like we all need it!

I’ve been hearing ads on the radio and seeing Facebook and Instagram posts about where to donate leftover candy after trick or treating. Well, that may be good for some people, but chocolate candy is a bit pricey, and call me selfish, but I sort of want to eat it…..?

Last year, I ran across a couple of recipes for brownies using Halloween candy. And I thought, why not try them? I had a big bowl of it sitting around in the kitchen, and since I do enjoy baking I tried it. And it was really good! And easy.

So here’s the recipe for those of you who want to try something new!

Leftover Halloween Candy Brownies

  • 1 cup + 2 tbl flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • t/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup M&M’s
  • 1/2 cup chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups
  • 1/2 cup chopped milk chocolate candy bars

OR, you may want to use a boxed brownie mix, follow those directions and just add the candy! Yes, that’s what I do. I like easy.

To make the brownies from “scratch”, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″ square baking pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat brown sugar, butter, and vanilla together in a separate large bowl using an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture into the butter mixture until just combined.

Fold in candy and press into prepared baking pan. You can add a little extra, which I did, but just don’t add too much or it won’t cook properly. Bake in pre-heated oven 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan on wire rack for ten minutes and then cut into squares.

Then enjoy! They’re delicious. In fact, I think I’ll go make some!

Crafting Fall Pumpkins

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Over forty years ago, there were colorful painted pumpkins in our family’s Halloween decorations. That was back when it was commonplace for us all to carve pumpkins for our Halloween decor without being told we were celebrating the devil’s holiday because we dared to decorate our homes and porches with pumpkins with carved faces and a candle inside them.

My uncle, who was a talented hobby artist, was obviously ahead of his time, and he decided one year to paint faces on the pumpkins rather than carve, so they’d last longer. They were colorful, and extremely creative. Unfortunately I have no pictures of them, because “back then” we didn’t memorialize such things.

I am fairly certain that if my uncle had lived to retirement age, he would have spent those golden years painting all sorts of wonderful things, as well as pumpkins, along with his hobby of bird carving.

Fast forward to now. 

It seems like every year Halloween decorations come out earlier and earlier. This year they were out by the end of August! And along with the truly Halloween decor are the pumpkins. Now we can get not only real ones, but craft pumpkins that we can decorate with all manner of designs, and even better, we can keep them from year to year to use over again in different displays. 

And as a crafter, I really do appreciate that. If I have to succumb to fall and all of its decor styles, then I can at least do something creative and fun with it. Here are two I made a couple of years ago.

It seems like all kinds of things can be used now. Flowers, chalk paint, feathers, glitter on stems, acrylic paint, decals, glue-on jewels, even nail polish that’s mixed with water to produce colorful swirls.

Or try a unicorn birthday cake topper for two little girls’ special pumpkins?

How about a headband with gold deer antlers, deer ears and leaves for the top of a very special little boy’s first Halloween pumpkin?

And another mermaid cake decorating set for a mermaid pumpkin for two special granddaughters in their mermaid bedroom at Grandma and Papa’s house?

Two years ago we gave our granddaughters their own little pumpkins to decorate themselves. They had a really good time. And they were very proud of their creations!  (So were Grandmom and Papa!)

Yes, if I have to go into the fall season, and let’s face it, what choice do I have, at least I can use some creativity to make it a bit more fun.

What fall decor have you done this year?

I’m Not Afraid of Storms

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Because I’m learning to sail my ship.

That sentence struck me in a book I recently read, words spoken by the heroine’s aunt when she was explaining how she chose to handle the bad times in her life.

As I write this today, we’re in the middle of a tropical storm. It’s raining like crazy, winds picking up and gusting all around. There are tornado watches in several areas around us. Flooding in a lot of places around us has already been reported, but fortunately where we live, we very seldom experience that unless the storm drains are full of debris.

So I began to think, how do we sail our ship safely when those proverbial storms come against us?

Certainly during a tropical storm like I just described, we don’t take our boat out. We secure it, batten down the hatches, as the saying goes, and either ride out the storm on board, or go to higher ground, knowing we’ve done everything we can to keep that ship safe during the storm. It may come out of it with no damage, or it may end up with some repairs needing to be done, but in the end, it’s back in good shape and ready for the next adventure.

So we sail on, through sunny skies, with a few storms once in awhile coming our way that we have to navigate through. But as we continue our voyage, we learn how to best navigate through those unexpected squalls and storms. Sometimes we come out unscathed, and sometimes we need to make a few more repairs and adjustments. But we learn from each encounter.

Sometimes the bad times in our lives are brief; a few days, a few weeks, and we get through them, using what we’ve learned in previous situations. We step forward knowing we’ve conquered another situation which was just in reality a small blip on our radar. A small problem to quickly overcome.

But sometimes in our lives we figuratively encounter that major storm, a nor’easter or even a hurricane. One that seems to almost come out of nowhere, giving us little or no time to prepare. But those are the times we do what we can as best we can. We pull on our experiences along the way, our inner strengths that have developed over the years, and we roll up our sleeves and put our lives back together as best we can. Sometimes better than before, sometimes almost the same, and other times we carry a few battle scars with us that we learn to live with and make the most of.

Because we’ve earned them. We’ve fought our battles, and we’ve overcome them. We’ve learned how to best sail our ship, the only one we’ve been given, and we hoist up our sails and go on once again. Maybe better, maybe a little worse for wear, but never defeated.

Where’s your ship headed today? Is it in the best shape possible or does it need a few repairs? If it does, get them made and then set your course for the next adventure.

Life is a Risk Worth Taking

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If you don’t take risks, you’ll never really live, you know. At least not life to the fullest.

There are all kinds of risks. They don’t necessarily have to be dangerous.

It’s risky to leave a job and start another where you’ve been comfortable for so long. You know everyone and know exactly what you’re doing, but you’re not getting ahead in your career. And you think you’ve now found the perfect job. More money. More responsibility. And already a step up from where you are now. 

But still, it’s new. You’re starting over, sort of. You don’t know anyone there. Will you be accepted? Or feel out of place? What if you don’t like it? Because there’s no going back.

But what if you do, and it turns out to be everything you’ve wanted?

It’s risky to move from where you’ve been renting for quite awhile and become a homeowner. 

It’s also risky to sell your home in one city and move to another one in a new city where you don’t know anyone.

And it’s really risky to take that leap

of faith to quit your job and start up your own business, knowing you only have about three months’ worth of savings to fall back on if it doesn’t work.

It’s risky to finally decide to make a break from a bad relationship, either a long term dating situation or an unhappy marriage. Because you don’t know how hard it’ll be to start over. And if it was an abusive relationship, you don’t know whether he/she will try to come after you.

There’s also a risk in agreeing to certain surgeries, whether elective or not, because there are always certain kinds of complications in any surgical procedure.

These are the serious risks. But there are hundreds of risks we all take in any given year. Maybe even more. 

Because if we don’t take some kind of risk almost every day, we don’t grow. We stay in the same place, not moving ahead in life, and sometimes even going backwards. 

Now I could mention risks like skydiving or white water rafting, both of which would be huge risks as far as I’m concerned, but those aren’t the risks we’re talking about here. I’m talking decisions we’re called upon to make every single day that can affect our lives, and we don’t really think about them. Maybe I should call them opportunities, or choices, instead of risks, because that’s really what they are.

Without taking a chance on something in life you aren’t going to go forward. Do you want to be in the same place next month you are today?  Or are you going to see what else is out there for you?

And you’ll never know unless you make a decision to take a risk. Because that’s what life is all about.

What Have You Always Wanted to Do?

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Or you tried it once or twice and weren’t pleased with the results so you never tried it again?

When I was growing up, I liked to try my hand at making things, just like all kids do. Since my mother was a very talented seamstress, I guess I took after her and learned to sew. I actually was pretty good at it, and in my early teens I was actually making a lot of my own clothes. I even won a few awards for my skills.

But that desire to sew faded when I went to college, partly because I couldn’t take my sewing machine with me, and partly because it wasn’t the “cool” thing to do.

After college, and when I joined the working world, I didn’t have a lot of time for such hobbies. But as my mom started picking up new interests along with sewing, I tried my hand at crocheting and then needlepoint and hooking rugs and pillows. That was fun for awhile, but I just wanted to create more unique items. You know, my own designs rather than just buying a kit and following directions. So gradually I gave that up.

Then I discovered cake decorating. That looked like lots of fun, but there was one problem. Unfortunately I had no talent for even frosting a cake, or even cupcakes, let alone all the fancy flowers and designs the really talented bakers came up with. All I could do was look at pictures and just imagine all the work it took to do that, and realized it just wasn’t for me. Plus I really wouldn’t want to destroy my creation by eating it. That ended that endeavor before I even started it.

Cookie decorating maybe, because I do love to bake cookies? But the talent for decorating ended with applying sprinkles, because cookie decorating with icing required some talent for drawing, and well, it just wasn’t me. I’ll buy them from a bake shop.

I’ve always wanted to be able to draw and paint, but I never really seemed to have much talent for it. Sure, I did a few watercolors after starting the design by laboriously staring at other pictures and trying to make the flowers look like that picture, but I was never really happy with the results.

But now, after several years, I’ve decided to try again. I’ve read a lot about other newbie artists who thought they had no talent but tried anyway, and after realizing that their work didn’t have to be perfect, didn’t have to be a masterpiece, and didn’t have to be something they could sell to others, and didn’t have to look like what they were copying it from, they actually started enjoying it. It was what THEY created to make them happy. They weren’t out to please anyone but themselves.

So I figure, if I can make jewelry and be happy with the results, even when some of the knots show in my stretch bracelets, and the closures in my necklaces aren’t always perfect, why should I be so critical of something I draw or paint? It’s for me. It’s my style. If I like it that’s what counts.

I’ve always wanted to do it, so there’s no time like the present to try. I have my supplies, a few books about beginner techniques, and I’ve even sketched my first project. And yes, it’s a flamingo! I’ll let you know how it turns out.

What have you always wanted to do? There’s no time like right now to step out of your comfort zone and try it. If you don’t, you’ll always wonder if you really could. So stop wondering and start trying. You may be really pleased with accomplishments.

Whatever You Want to Do

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Do it.

Because there are only so many tomorrows. Like that saying don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

What if tomorrow doesn’t come!

One day it won’t, you know.

Then you’ll be in the land of regents and not know how you got there. And it’ll be too late.

Is there someone you want to tell something but you don’t think you’re ready? Don’t put it off because you might not be able to tomorrow.

Is there some place you want to visit but keep putting it off? Tomorrow may be too late.

Whatever you want to do, do it. Make plans and just do it.

If you don’t do it now, you might not get another chance.

Falling In Leaves

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Yes, that’s what I meant. Not falling in love. It’s really easy to fall in love. Sometimes we do it every week. Or even every day.

I’m talking actually falling in leaves. Like kids do. Like you probably did when you were a kid. That’s actually even easier than falling in love!

Our parents, usually our dads, would rake the leaves up every week once they stated falling, and depending on where you lived, it could be a rather big pile!

But lots of times, right before the wheelbarrow came out to scoop them all up in, or the big plastic trash bags, depending on where you lived, suddenly the youngest child in the group just jumped in like it was a dry leaf-filled pool and started splashing around in all the colorful leaves, throwing them around at the other kids like dry colorful flaky snowballs. That didn’t hurt when they hit you because they wouldn’t stick together.

And suddenly there was no more pile of leaves, because they were all scattered back all over the yard. 

And if there was a dog or two around, they’d be right in there with everyone else.

It wasn’t quite as much fun as jumping into a pile of snow and making snowballs to throw, but it was a lot warmer! And drier!

Now it’s not as much raking the leaves up as it is mulching them with the lawn mower. Or in our case, scooping them up out of the pool every couple of days.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve really seen many piles of leaves yet this year. But I’d bet our two oldest grandchildren would love the opportunity to play in a big pile of leaves along with their two big dogs. And I imagine their new 8 week old puppy would have a great time playing in them, too. Maybe we should suggest it to their mom and dad? 

And actually, I bet their parents would probably have just as much fun as the rest of them!

I guess if we have to say goodbye to summer, this would be a good way to have one last outside fling before winter sets in. However, in all honesty, I’d rather keep summer around a bit longer.

Who’s with me on this? Or who wants to go help our kids rake leaves and have a “jump in the leaves” party?