Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!!!


The big day is finally here!!
WoohoooO!

Just a quick post - I'll be back again this weekend. Hope we don't freeze and/or blow away tonight!  Check out this notice from the National Weather Service...  I live about a mile north of M59.  Yay. 
OK - ignore this.  Somehow I got it to link to the website & it's current!

I'm very pleased with the cemetery this year.  The lights still aren't exactly what I want, but its getting there.  Maybe next year!  And yes, I've already had a few things flit thru my mind that I want to improve upon for 2015.  






 Oooo spooky ghost!




Have a safe & Happy Halloween (or Sanheim or whatever you do)!



Happy Halloween!!


The big day is finally here!!
WoohoooO!

Just a quick post - I'll be back again this weekend. Hope we don't freeze and/or blow away tonight!  Check out this notice from the National Weather Service...  I live about a mile north of M59.  Yay. 
OK, ignore that.  For some reason, it's updating so this is current!

I'm very pleased with the cemetery this year.  The lights still aren't exactly what I want, but its getting there.  Maybe next year!  And yes, I've already had a few things flit thru my mind that I want to improve upon for 2015.  






 Oooo spooky ghost!




Have a safe & Happy Halloween (or Sanheim or whatever you do)!


Friday, October 24, 2014

Friday Funnies 102414 - Halloween Edition


To make Chester quake in his fur.....




And an important DYI video on how to make Candy Corn Vodka!






Saturday, October 18, 2014

2 weeks til Halloween!!

~Squeeee~!!!  Halloween is my favorite time of the year!  In case ya didn't know.....Maple Grove Cemetery  is my blog for all things Halloween & a helping of cemetery art.  Anyhooo,  here's a peek at what's going on in my front yard right now.



 I love these ghosties!

 And here's a early shot of the lights.  
There are now green lights in front, but I need something inside the blue wash to make details show up better.  More extension cords!!

I feel like I've been slacking this year.  Normally I'm all excited about the Secret Reaper over at the HalloweenForum - not so much this year.  I signed up and never even went back to see what everyone else has gotten, for either one that I participated in.  Same with the Halloween card exchange - I signed up and hoped for the minimum of people to exchange with.  I don't even have the apothecary in my kitchen out yet!  I'm sure that Randy is happy that I'm not as interested in shopping this year.  Usually I have to stop in all the likely stores several times to see what they have.  I can't even think of any place I want to go hit sales on Nov 1 !!  I don't need any more skeletons, that's for sure!  

I am looking forward to going on a pub crawl next weekend.  Last year, we (me, both sisters, a niece & a bunch of their friends, along with a bunch of other people) did a witch crawl/bus trip for charity.  A portion of what we spent at 4 different bars went to one of the breast cancer research places around here.  We all dressed as witches (obviously) and had to incorporate pink somehow into our outfits.  This year, a different person is coordinating it and guys are welcome, so it's a generic Halloween pub crawl and Randy is going with me.  One sister has to work and the other sister with her cronies don't like the idea that guys are going.  Apparently they feel the need to act differently in front of guys?  I don't recall them being overly crazy at all last year so I don't know what their problem is.  They also go on monthly "girls only" weekend trips to Ohio.  It must really suck to work so hard to avoid associating with your spouse like that!  Personally - I like my husband and am thrilled he will dress up and go with me!   Now, what can I figure out for him to wear???  I like my witch get up from last year, so I may wear it again. 

So things are calming down somewhat on the "OMG my kid is a senior" crazy train.  We had to order her cap & gown recently.  The very next day, she came home with her "Spirit Pack" that came with her order - a drawstring backpack, a pair of sunglasses, a pair of earbuds (all emblazoned with Seniors - Class of 2015), a really nice keychain, a class t-shirt, a pair of sweatpants she ordered and the requisite extra tassel that she promptly took to MY car and hung from the rearview mirror!   I also attended my first meeting as a volunteer for the All Night Senior Party that happens the night of graduation.  We're going today to check out her proofs of yearbook / cap & gown pictures.  I just want an 11x14 of her in her cap & gown for the living room. 

And of course....Homecoming happened.   She ended up just going with a bunch of friends.  Only the girl in orange and the boy behind her are dating.  We went to the same park for pictures as for her senior pics, but 1000 other people had the same idea.  It was a madhouse!  So we wandered away from the pond area and found a couple nice areas - 

...and the police department!
Heehee!
note the lovely choice of footwear for the evening - black Vans.  
But at least she was comfortable! 

And since HoCo happened on her birthday weekend, we didn't even do much for her.  My nephew's b-day is the day before hers so we all meet at the apple orchard and give them gifts and pick apples & eat donuts & drink cider.  She still hasn't even mentioned having any friends over!

She also tried out for and made it into the newest class offering at the dance studio - small group contemporary.  They've never offered it before, but then again, they haven't had Jonathon as a full-time teacher, either!  I had to look it up to figure out exactly how contemporary is different from lyrical.  Lyrical is more ballet-y and contemporary is more modern and edgy, I guess.  It's going to look really cool and they've only worked out the beginning so far.  Angel & Kayla are the only big girls -the rest are all like 10-12 years old.  It's always fun to watch them start new dances - much hilarity!

And here are the hazards of doing pre-calc on the kitchen floor.  Chester was NOT impressed! 

I love this pic, I caught him in mid-yawn! 

I have a class tonight at the National Weather Service office.  I volunteer for CoCoRaHS, or the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network.  I basically report in each day any precipitation that fell in my yard.  I have a snazzy rain gauge and everything.  So this is a refresher course and we'll get a tour of the weather service office and watch the evening weather balloon launch, both of which I've seen before but it's neat so I'll happily tour & watch again. Angel's going with me and I'm letting her drive.  She needs some more highway time and she might even get some night time. 

Ya'll have a great day!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Friend Makin' Monday - 10/6

Happy Monday!  I've been slacking the last few weeks - I started the posts, then life happened and I'd forget to finish.  

Nothing much going on - working on my Halloween display when I can and I took the family on a Cemetery walk this weekend.  We didn't make it to the tea, where they served foods that were traditional at a Victorian-era wake, but we went thru the Crocker House museum where they had it done up as a house of mourning - mirror covered, a real coffin in the parlor, windows darkened, porch draped in black, etc.  The volunteers explained all the customs & beliefs and was really interesting.  Then we got on a bus to the cemetery and they had 6 people there as reenactors, they stood next to a headstone of some local person and told their story.  That was really neat since they were just average people with average lives.  They were all excellent story-tellers!  Sunday we went to visit Mom for a while.  



FMM

Happy Monday everyone.

If you’ve taken part in Friend Makin Mondays before then you are familiar with the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to read and comment on a couple of other posts.

This week’s random questions come from Tyra at Random Acts of Snark. Thanks Tyra.

1. If you had to be allergic to something, what would it be?  I'll stick with what I am allergic to - sulfa.  It's a type of penicillin that they gave me when I had mono, many moons ago.  It made me break out into hives when I went out in the sun!  So I'd choose that since there are other medications available.

2. If you sat next to Jesus on a bus, what would you talk about?  What his private life was like, as a kid / teenager.

3. If money and time were no object, what would you be doing right now?  I'd be at home working on getting my Halloween stuff out!

4. If you had one day to live over again, what day would that be?   I'd go with my wedding day, too.  They only thing I'd change is NOT wearing a corset - those things are torture!  But it was the best day of my life & I smiled like an idiot all day!

5. If you could eat your favorite food right now, what would it be?  The answer could be different on other days / times but today is a chocolate chip cookie skillet from Chili's.  They make it in a min-cast iron skillet and put a scoop of ice cream and drizzle of chocolate on it.

6. If you could learn any skill, what would it be?   Hmm, some mad woodworking skills would be cool.  

7. If you were sent to live on a space station for three months, and could only take three personal items, what would they be?  My Kindle with approximately 7000 books pre-loaded on it.  My iPod with tons of music pre-loaded (both of these with batteries that don't run out!)  and a photo album of my family. 

8. If you could buy a car right now (money no object) what would it be?  I'm pretty happy with my 2008 Saturn Vue - I've only had it about 2 months.  But to be totally outrageous, it would be anything that the guys on Top Gear test & review.  So some fancy foreign car, like a Buggati Veyron or something like that.

9. What’s your favorite cartoon character and why?  Kermit the frog isn't really a cartoon character, so it would have to be either Popeye or Bugs Bunny.  Kermit just rocks.  Popeye & Bugs always entertained me to no end, tough & funny & lovable.

10. Does your name have a special meaning or were you named after someone special?  I'm pretty sure my name is one Dad just came up with.  But check out how weird he was....His name was James Curtis.  Half brother was Curtis James.  Brothers are John James and Terry Curtis.  (nephews have a variation of his names, also!)  then us girls are Laura Lee, Linda Bea and Lisa Marie. All start with L end with A and rhyme.  But Lee is after Gpa, Bea is after Gma and Marie is after Mom (Mary).  So yeah, we're special!

Thanks Tyra for the questions, these were fun to answer. Now it’s time to go answer these questions on your blog and come back here and post the link to your answers.

Have a great day!!

Friday, October 3, 2014

Friday Funnies 100314

A couple of videos that never fail to crack me up!

One Direction Without Autotune - the Story of my Life

Mattstache cover of Rhianna's Where Have You Been