Halloween: it's not just for kids!

     I love this time of year!

     You can scoff and tsk! all you want but this issue of Martha Stewart Living is so beautiful and, yes, inspirational.  Only Martha can make me want to prepare an entire Thanksgiving meal (even though I won't) and only Martha can make tubers sound to delicious that I had to buy a ñame.

     It's a true yam, which still doesn't answer a lot of the questions I have, but apparently it's going to taste amazing when I'm done with it.

     I used to love the whole pumpkin carving routine when it was just a goofy face and the main creative aspect was how many teeth you could cut into the mouth.

     I thought buying a kit was a good idea until it became apparent that the kids were not going to see the complex designs through to the bitter end and I wound up carving 3 pumpkins as fast as I could.  See those flimsy little tools in the photo?  Toast.

     At least they seem to have forgotten the rainbow loom although the rubber bands will persist as a reminder for decades.

     I spent the last couple weeks of October focusing on costumes and was fortunate enough to rope in a couple of friends.  I turned this pattern:

     ...into these sister wives:

     The dresses weren't perfect as our sizes vary WILDLY, but they were good enough for the night and got some fun attention.

     A last minute run to Goodwill netted the makings of Monk Night costumes to wear to the Belgian beer bar.

     My outfit was originally a ladies coat and Mike's Buddhist monk garb was a set of melon bedsheets. I told him, "Melon is the new saffron!"  As usual, I had to add creepy sunglasses and a beard.

     Two things happened after Monk Night:

#1. I ate this portion of chicken and waffles.

No regrets.

#2. I pulled my crazy monk hair into a ponytail the next morning and went out in public.

No regrets.

     A mild chicken-n-waffle hangover did not stop me from some cosmetic work on the house.  I needed to spackle some large holes in the wall so I grabbed a tub of joint compound (left over from a different project) and cut a spatula out of an old plastic food container, and got it done!

     A couple coats of paint and a few framed pictures and it will look good as new!