PUMPKIN FESTIVAL

The owl pumpkin that was a favorite.

H
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A busy weekend...as usual with the kids. Last night we headed to Hailey's favorite park (Washington Park) where there was a Pumpkin Festival - over 2000 (heard it was 2008, but I only confirmed over 2000) carved and lit pumpkins. This was quite a sight! I had envisioned a lot of pumpkins, but not this many. Some were very elaborate and works of art.

Brent, Hailey, Hailey's friend Sydney, and I walked around for over an hour looking at the cool pumpkins. Hailey's favorite pumpkin was the owl and a face that had weird eyeballs. Brent's favorite was the owl and Yoda. Sydney's favorite was the owl and the skull.

The park does this every year and I spoke with a volunteer. The weekend before is pumpkin carving at the park and I'm going to do that next year. I love to carve pumpkins, but since living in an apartment, I have no need to do so, so I've missed out the last couple years. The best part is, I only have to carve and they've scooped the insides out. So, next year I'll post pictures of the pumpkins I've carved.

A Walk in the Woods

Giant Fungus - Hailey collected several for her class.

I guess I just took that title from one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson (I recommend his books, but they are harder to find), but I can't think of a a better title for what we did....

Brent, Hailey, and I went to Carpenter Park and took a walk through the woods. There are several nature trails there and we traveled several of them along with Zeus. I took a ton of pictures but mainly we just enjoyed ourselves. We felt like we were in the middle of the wilderness, though we were just outside of town. The weather was perfect. We will definitely go back for another walk soon.

We collected beautiful fall colored leaves that had fallen and came home and make leaf collages and framed them for display.

Halloween Gingerbread House

This morning, Brent, Hailey, and I created our own Halloween haunted house that is fully edible. It was a blast. I've now decided that I'd love to take cake decorating classes, though I might not be very good - I definitely enjoy the creative process. Not that I have time. Maybe someday...

Anyhow, this was a collaborative effort with the three of us spending about an hour creating our masterpiece (it is a kit with the walls and all and you decorate it in your own style). Hailey had the idea of the spider web for the roof and Brent had the idea to add the spider.

We will enjoy looking at our creation today and I'm sure by the morning, it will start to be picked at and eaten. Edible art - the best kind.

Sunday morning

Oh, how I love them. It is my only real day off work, though I usually do a little work anyhow, but so goes self-employment. Sunday mornings can be hectic sometimes because I go to church, which means get up and dress before leaving for the day and it seems to be easier during the week when I start working in whatever clothing I crashed in the night before and dress sometime in mid-afternoon. But, on Sundays I put on my better clothes and head to church. I always look forward to church. I leave feeling refreshed and stimulated, and I get to see my friends. Many people have friends they get to see when they work during the week but since I work solo (except I now have a part time assistant), I don't get much conversation or friendship during the work week, thus making my church friendships even more precious.

Onto another topic....the weather. It is hot. It is the middle of October, the trees are turning and it is beautiful, but a little to warm for my taste. I want to be wearing sweaters (not coats yet) but I want to feel that crisp coolness on my face. Instead, I feel like I should be putting on my bathing suit and heading to the pool (which IS still open due to the weather) as it is going to be 84 today! I think it was about that temperature yesterday. Yesterday, after dark, I was outside and wearing a tank top and I was HOT and, as I mentioned, it is the middle of October. I'm sure some with blame it on global warming, but in reality, in Illinois I've seen this happen before. It was cooler in the middle of September than it should have been and I wasn't quite ready for fall. I have seen that it is supposed to cool down later this week. Good! I have some new fall clothes I want to wear.

More pictures from corn maze

I could only add so many pictures to my blog, so here is a few more. The corn maze is in the shape of Abe Lincoln with a Happy 200th (next year) and a slice of birthday cake. The picture you see what taken during the summer when it is all green but as you can see from my photo it is all brown now.

Corn Maze, Bull Riding & Rock Climbing - all in one weekend

A busy weekend indeed....Saturday I took the kids to the "Abe's Corn maze". It was such a blast. Jenny met me there with the kids and we started by rock climbing. Hailey, as usual, climbed right up to the top with no problem at all. She is so good at it! Then, the kids went "sumo wrestling". Them putting on the big suits and wresting was so funny! I couldn't stop laughing. It was hilarious. Brent battled Hailey's friend and he thought he was on the football field or something.... He ran at her and she flew right out of the ring and onto spectator's chair.

After that we tackled the corn maze. As many years as I've lived in corn country, I've never walked through a corn maze. It is much taller looking when your in the middle of it. It is a huge maze with over 3 miles of trails.

Making out way out of it, we decided to celebrate with a delicious funnel cake while the kids did the obstacle course. Then the kids decided to tackle the mechanical bull. Brent thought it was easy, till he got on it and actually tried it.

Later that evening we went to Kari's house for a wiener roast for Jenny's birthday celebration. We ate good food and had a great time.

Sunday started with the morning at church and then this afternoon a great thing happened. I hired an assistant! I got a call Saturday morning and set up an appointment. I really think God sent the right person to me and she is going to work out great. She starts tomorrow. Time will tell, but this could be a great blessing.

So....the weekend comes and goes (too quickly) and it is Sunday evening now (don't go by the post times on my blogs...they are off by several hours). Kids just left to go to their dad's and I'm enjoying the quiet. It is the calm before the storm of another long and busy week ahead.

Finally Friday!

Okay, so I don't have a traditional job and Friday doesn't mean the same to me as many people, but....I do always have very busy Thursday as I do my 10 day listings and Friday mornings is always a bit of a relief. I take it a little slower and try to enjoy the morning. Even if that is for just a few minutes.

The few minutes pass, and I realize I have way, way, way too much work for one person to accomplish today. So yesterday, I decided I'm going to (hopefully) hire a "personal/business assistant" part time. I can only do so much as one person, and there is so much that someone could help me do - from answering emails to going to the post office or even the grocery store - for me that would free up my time to do the things I need to do and nobody else can do for my business. I've had high school girls help me before and although they are a help, both of the girls were not very self-directed and I had to tell them specifically everything that needed to be done. I'm hoping I can get someone who knows how to take the lead and do something they see needs to be done and do it. I'd rather have someone make a decision and do something wrong, than sit and do nothing (especially when I paying them by the hour).

So today begins a search for someone. I'm going to let anyone and everyone know what I'm looking for and hopefully, God willing, the right person will come along. College age would be really great I think....but I'm open to anyone who possesses the right smarts, personality and drive.

So, I said I'd have pictures of Brent's football game to share. Guess you have to take your camera for that don't you? Honestly, it goes back to looking for that assistant I need. I literally worked till I ran (yes, I ran) out of the house to go to the football game. I didn't even realize till I was 5 miles down the road that I'd left without my camera (and shoes - yes, I had flip-flops on, but it IS fall in Illinois and I was cold!) I'll post some pictures of a game a few weeks ago but they are not very good....

Guess I'm out of the loop!

Vic called me yesterday and told me that I needed to get out more. She'd heard of this movie (Last post - Lars and the Real Girl) long ago. But in my defense - I've actually watched the movie and she had just heard about it.

I was up before dawn today. That is just not natural. But kids have to be out of the house by 6: 30 am and I have TONS to do today so I don't dare go back to sleep like I'd like. And...I have to get it all done before the football game tonight. I'll post pictures of his game soon. In the meantime, posted is a photo of how I'm looking today.