Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween all day today. Drew put on his Buzz Lightyear costume right after lunch so he could wear it to school. We decided to leave the wings home since they don't fit through the bus doors very well.



I went to the Deep Run Elementary School Halloween parade this afternoon. All of the kids (from Pre-K to 5th grade) made a circuit outside the school so all the parents got to see them and take pictures. Unfortunately, my parade picture turned out really blurry, but I got a nice one of him in his classroom afterwards.

After school, we went to feed Jill and Jerry's birds since they're on vacation. Drew loves to go to their house because he gets to play the drums.



After the birds were fed, we stopped over at Andy and Carole's to eat some Chinese food, and I got a picture of the kids before they went out trick-or-treating. Drew and I went home and gave out candy (which he loved doing) and then went trick-or-treating around our court.

Donuts and Dust

Adam and I had our annual weekend away together this past weekend. One of these days, it won't be just once a year, but, right now, Drew's not really interested in staying by himself--maybe when he's 6.

It was pouring and windy Friday night when we got to Hagerstown so, of course, we didn't want to go back out in the rain. BUT, I happened to glance at the magazine in the room, and found an article about a donut company, Krumpe's Do-nuts, that has been in business in the area since 1934. Since they only sell their donuts to retail customers from an alley behind their facility (a house in the south part of Hagerstown) between the hours of 7pm and 2am Monday through Friday, I decided we must go immediately (this was about 10:30pm).



You can see that the box got a little wet, but there was plenty of goodness inside (at $3.65 a dozen!). The donuts were delicious, but I think I enjoyed the adventure of finding the place in the dark and the rain even more. Plus, who ever heard of buying donuts in an alley?

Once we got home from the weekend, reality set in again quickly. We are getting new vinyl floors in the house, and we had to move everything out of the way so the new floor could be laid today and tomorrow. This is how things looked as of tonight in the kitchen. Our refrigerator and stove and everything else are in the living room. What a mess! Plus, there's a thick layer of dust over everything. I guess I'll actually have to do some cleaning once it's all done.

Goodbye Pretty Bird

Spike is no longer with us as of this morning. He must have expired sometime during the night. Adam and I had a quick funeral in the back yard this morning before Drew woke up. I didn't want to have to get into a lot of explanation about what happened and where he was going.

Drew hasn't seemed to notice yet that Spike is missing.

Little Wild Man

Things are pretty quiet around here. Adam was off today and doing school work, and I 'm getting ready to go to work at Compu-Power for a few days. I've also been testing recipes for my first class, Great Weekend Breakfasts, on Sunday.

I had to show Drew in his new shirt. I saw it at Target and had to get it because Adam is always calling Drew "Wild Man". To which Drew always replies "I'm NOT a wild man!"

South Mountain Creamery

I found out about the Harvest Celebration at the South Mountain Creamery yesterday and, and, at the last minute, decided to take Drew for a drive out to Middletown, Maryland to check it out. We tried to go watch the calves being fed, but I guess feeding time was a little late. This calf decided that Drew looked pretty tasty until her regular food came.
We took a hayride through the fields and checked out the dairy cows (I kept thinking of that commercial for California cheese "Do you think cows are pretty? Would you marry a cow?"). We had a wonderful view of the mountains and the changing leaves, even though the trees aren't as pretty this year due to our summer drought. We sampled some of their homemade ice cream (of course!). Drew had vanilla (or balilla as Drew calls it), and I sampled the pumpkin -- both were delicious.

It's My Birthday! It's My Birthday!

I was inspired by Heidi's old pictures on her blog (her dad's birthday was yesterday, apparently. Hope he had a good one as well!) so I decided to post a slightly older picture of myself to commemorate the day. Adam and Drew made sure that I had a very special day with a couple of surprises, even though Drew kept trying to tell me about my cards and presents before it was time.
Adam and Drew made me a birthday cake (actually I gave them a break and made the components, but they iced and decorated it), and Drew decided that I needed 10 candles. Thank goodness he can't count to 45!

I got lovely birthday greetings and presents from afar as well, including these beautiful flowers from Pat and George.
I'm sure that Drew will still be wishing me Happy Birthday tomorrow. He doesn't really get the concept that a birthday is just one day (although I know some people that celebrate a birthday month). At least he didn't spend all day wondering where HIS presents were.

Autumn Dinner

Tonight, Sue and Brian came over to help me practice for my first cooking class. Unfortunately, the class that I prepared didn't get enough enrollment, so it's not happening, but we had a nice dinner anyway. Our menu was:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Cider Cream
Sauteed Pork Medallions with Sage Apple Cream Sauce
Perfect Rice Pilaf
Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Pecans
Stilton Stuffed Pears

Everything was very tasty, and Brian and Drew even ate the pork (minus the sauce!) and rice. Drew stayed up way too late, but he just loves when Brian (and Aunt Zoo) come over.

Congratulations, Pastor Beth!

Yesterday, Drew and I spent a lot of time at church (if you'd told me a year ago I'd be doing that, I'd have called you crazy). We were celebrating Paster Beth's 20 years as a pastor and 10 years with CUCC. She renewed her vows (I didn't know they did that) during church, and then we had a party this afternoon back at church. Luckily, they had child care for the second event as well, because Drew was only interested in eating ice cream and cake, not listening to speeches, songs and skits. Anyway, we just love Beth -- she definitely says what's on her mind which is a quality I really value in a person! (Wonder why?)

Back From Paradise

Well, I'm back from San Diego, and I'm very glad to be home. Some people refer to San Diego as paradise because the weather is so nice year round. It is a beautiful area, but I wouldn't want to live there. Here's the view from my room at the Town and Country Resort. It was a decent place (in the process of being updated) with beautifully landscaped grounds. I only wish that Adam and Drew could have been with me. Drew would have loved getting in all the different pools. Here is a picture of a Rubio's Fish Taco Platter (San Diego was where fish tacos were first served in the US, supposedly). Unfortunately, the Rubio's where I enjoyed my fish tacos is located in the airport, so I'm not sure that I had the whole experience, but I was still happy. I'm still disappointed that I didn't get to go to the Clam Box when I was up in Boston in June, so I would have been really upset if I came back from San Diego fish taco-less.

Adam and Drew were pretty happy to see me last night, and Drew spilled the beans on the way home that there were flowers waiting for me. He's not very good at keeping things to himself (he must get that from his mother). You can see by the picture that Drew got a haircut while I was gone -- he and Adam get their hair cut together now. Of course, it just makes them look even more alike. Drew is also wearing his cool Halloween shirt that Aunt Pattee gave him. Isn't he starting to look like such a big boy?

Just a couple of notes on the continuing sagas. The bike rack has been replaced (you gotta love the Pennysaver), and the new sink has not yet been fixed (although we received the new part from the manufacturer yesterday).

Almost, But Not Quite

Well, the new sink and vanity are in, but, unfortunately, we have a leak. We're now waiting for some new parts to come from the manufacturer, and if that doesn't fix the problem, Adam will have to rip out the whole faucet and take it back and get a new one. Since I'm heading to California and Adam and Drew are heading to New York on Sunday, the project will have to continue next week. In the meantime, you can see our temporary solution.

*!#!&*@!! Home Improvement

Drew has finally caught on that I'm taking a lot of pictures now, so he told me to take his picture yesterday while we were waiting for the bus to pick him up. He doesn't actually want to look at the camera or smile, but, of course, he likes the idea of being the center of attention.

We're starting some home improvements around the house. Today, Adam started replacing the vanity in the bathroom upstairs. He managed to get the old one torn out fairly easily, but the new vanity didn't work with the way the pipes came out of the wall, so, short of calling a plumber and fixing the pipes, we had to take it back. (I won't even discuss the profanity flying around.) We had to carrying the thing back down the steps, get it back in the box (no easy feat itself) and get it back to Home Depot. Luckily, a friend of Adam's was in the area and was able to come over with his truck to do the transporting back and forth.


I had a meeting with another personal chef this afternoon, so I didn't go back to Home Depot to pick out the replacement vanity. I knew Adam would do a good job, and we're also the people who made the final decision on our new vinyl flooring by flipping a coin. As long as it's not what we had, it pretty much has to be better.

These first two pictures are backward, but you get the idea. The second vanity is now in place and tomorrow we hope that this phase of the project will be completed.

To be continued......

I Love To Swim at the YMCA

I've been meaning to take a picture of Drew during his swimming lessons, and I finally remembered the camera this past Saturday. Some of the parents were giving me "Oh please!" looks, but I have gotten almost as obnoxious with the camera as my friend Sharon (sorry Sharon, but you know it's true) since I started the blog. He really has a great time in the water and is fearless about jumping into the deep end. (As a matter of fact, I get a little nervous when he's around a strange body of water, because I think he's just going to jump right in.) I think his favorite part of the swimming lesson is getting to take a shower by himself afterward, though.