The Serial Killer of my back yard and other Halloween stuff

The other day (Sunday) we were watching TV and Cinders was all snuggled up on my chest.  She bolted from me and started going nuts at the back sliding glass door.   A black cat was out there and pounce, pounce, pounce near the bird feeder.  He scampers off with a cute little chipmunk.  He's been back everyday since and we scare him away at least twice.  Leave my chipmunks alone!  Cinder likes watching them and they're cute (even if they make the back yard full of little holes). 

While hanging out at home the other day (Tuesday) waiting for it to warm up enough to mow the lawn and run the mower out of gas for the season for winter storage this went prancing though the back yard:

 We see mommy and her 2 babies (that aren't that little anymore) almost nightly.  Seeing him was a real treat.  He was definitely more hesitant than mommy and babies. Although he did run really fast when something spooked him (he was behind the tree "frozen" so this is the only picture I got of him).

 Pretty soon my decorations will have to move from the fireplace to the front hall so that our Trick-or-Treaters see them:

 And I wish that one really stinkin' cutie patootie would be coming to knock at our door.  But I will settle for cute snail mail from him anytime.  Biggest smile on my face to get this the other day:

Looking forward to tonight when Luke gets to answer the door in his Darth Vader costume (oh the irony).

Disney Vera Bradley Bag

I have been in love with this bag since they sneak peaked it on the Disney Parks blog over the summer. I am not a "Vera Bradley" person but I really like this (probably because it is Disney).  Well, it was not going to be available at Disney until late September.  This meant that I would not be able to pick up one while I was at Disneyland for the Dumbo Double Dare.

Then it was announced they would have them available through the Disney Store website. They have been sold out since they went on the website and apparently they cannot keep them in stock at the parks either.  Hopefully this will be available soon or else I am hoping that it will be magically on a shelf when I go.  Midnight with Mickey you will be mine (but only this style bag will do).

This weekend...

This weekend I tied all the Girls on the Run shirts up with sparkly pink ribbon so I can give them to the girls.  I think that will make it much more fun to finally get their shirts.  I also put their names on the tags so I am not having to check the size list a whole bunch.  

 I was told my hair was gorgeous.  So I had to take a picture.  I guess it looks pretty decent despite all the running and such that I put it through.  Still could go for a trim but realized the length I want would put me back into the category of looking "identical" to Stacy Pensgen again.  What do you think?

 In the past I've had random people stop me to tell me I do a great job with the weather.  And in other news...

I love all things pumpkin.  I am very disappointed when things don't look as good as the box.  I followed the directions and the pumpkin bars taste great.  I am only bummed that they look better on the box.  A dollop of whipped cream and some cinnamon sticks aren't going to fix my version.  Anyone else have the problem of boxed baked goods not coming out "as advertised."  Have a great week!

Snuggle up Weather

As we get to the end of October my little Snuggle Bug Cinder Ella has been climbing all over me to snuggle in and stay warm.  I love it.  She likes to lay on my chest and nuzzle her sweet little face into my neck/shoulder.  When she isn't doing this she is curled in a little ball on her dog bed in the sun or her cat bed (also in the sun).  But where was my little fur baby the other day?

That's right... the cupboard above the fridge.  She has decided it's a fun place to be.  Jump on the counter, microwave and top of fridge to get into the un-used cupboard and nap.  I asked the vet about this and she said a happy cat is a climbing cat.  She is comfortable and confident so she climbs.  Cats that aren't happy or that are scared dwell under beds and stay low.

It Finally Happened!

We got a riding lawn mower!  We went up to Luke's dads for the weekend to celebrate his 50th birthday and throw him a mini-surprise party with just family.  He was surprised and spent forever making a wish.  If you are wondering the cake is a road with a Harley Motorcycle on it.

 When we returned from our weekend visiting his family Patty and Danny called to see if they could drop off the riding mower.  Basically furniture and such gets shuffled around the family when people get new stuff or no longer need something.  By default and many conversations we finally got the rider.

Ohhhh and ahhhh a lot at these photos cause this is the only time Luke has mowed the lawn since we acquired the mower.  I've gotten to use it 3 times since.  I like the lines that the push mower leaves much better but I love that I am not dying for air or having my eyes half swell shut from allergies when I use this. Yay riding lawn mower.

Columbus Day Weekend

Over the long Columbus Day weekend I headed up to Vermont with my Momma and Papa Bear.  Of course we stopped in Albany for a little shopping and lunch at Grandma's.  It is this restaurant that goes over the top with their decorations for every holiday/season of the year.

 We arrived at my aunt Cathy's place for the night and left early the next morning to travel up to New Hampshire and check out the Kancamungus Highway (very scenic 33 miles).  The day started out gorgeous then got foggy, rained a little and cleared up again just as we reached the highway.  Once we started up the first "peak" though it got foggy again and that was basically the end of sunny and clear weather.  Still a beautiful trip.

 At the first stop on the highway we really had to go to the bathroom.  Thank you government shut down closing the national forest park bathrooms.  Ugh.  We knew there were bathrooms there and the road leading in was crowded with a craft fair so we didn't stop.  Annoying!

 Halfway through the trip and a few out of the car for scenery stops later it was time to go potty in a cup since I was going to burst.  After that it was wonderful and I was better able to enjoy the beauty of the world around me.  Above is the gorge type area. It is really deep and then drops over a small fall to another deep pool with currents/whirl pools.

 Mom and dad climbed up onto a huge rock.  Of course as we were leaving a bazillion little kids decided to scamper up the rock.  Being observant I like to read signs. Some really crack me up.

After our trip along the Kancamungus we went for a little walk back at my aunt Cathy's.  This is the sugar shack across the street from her (where the neighbor makes some maple syrup).  Believe it or not maple syrup comes from maple trees, not pine trees (despite the fact that pine trees are sticky like syrup).

 Mom, Dad and Debbie taking a walk up the hill to check out the view.

 The next day my folks adventured to the liquor store and ran a few errands while I was left at the track to run some laps (my request) so that I could do my running thing.  We left Monday morning.  If anyone can tell me why there is a barn/house on top of the silohs please let me know.  I am curious.  Thank you Vermont for keeping it interesting.

End of Summer (it's official)

Many people mark the beginning and end of summer with Memorial Day and Labor Day.  Our family tends to think of it as the day the boat goes in the water and the day it comes out (early and late).  The conversation that happened on October 1:

 Guess my folks got the boat out with enough time for my dad to scrub it sparkling for winter storage and winterize the boat.  Then he got it all stored up for the winter before the rain came early this morning.  In the meantime at least he has his rowboat Nemo (it's orange and white so that's the name I've given the boat) to go perch fishing.

Laundry Detergent

I read my sisters blog and checked out her friend Christy's blog.  She had made her own laundry detergent.  I thought I would give it a whirl myself and found that it was really easy.  I gathered the materials:

You do need 3 bars of Fels Naptha soap and a grater.  I followed Christy's directions and then put the contents into large zip-top bags with the rest that I would scoop out of going into a plastic container with a screw top left over from peanuts.  So far the detergent works great and all the supplies were just over $20.  It makes a lot of detergent and you only need 2 "coffee scoops" for a full load of laundry.  It seems like I have barely dented what I made but I've done countless loads of laundry.  Compare the amount of laundry to what you get out of a huge $18 thing of Tide that does 78 loads and we are totally on the winning end of cost effectiveness.  I really like the clean smell it leaves on our clothes.  

The Spartan Sprint

While the boys were having fun adventuring Miss D and I were busy hiking a mountain, scaling walls and other crazy shenanigans.  It was quite the challenge but really fun at the same time.  Unfortunately there really weren't a lot of pictures taken and we aren't in any together except for jumping over the fire pit at the end (and even that one isn't super clear it's us).

 Here is Miss D getting to the top of the mountain.  The last chunk of it was basically single file and you could only go as fast as the person in front of you.  I enjoyed the view while waiting for her.  We took a minute but then started right back down and on our way to more obstacles.

 Our favorite was the rolling mud where we went up short, steep man-made hills down into a giant mud puddle/pit.  This was followed by the army crawl under barbed wire.  Started fun and was really long.  Many people were complaining they got the hint that it was hard but it kept going anyways.  We were so happy to done with that part.  At least it was a warm day because the "clean up" after the race was a bunch of hoses and cold water.

There were monkey bars, traverse wall (think sideways rock climbing), spear throw and burpees for failing.  Dani and I had a great time and were laughing most of the time, which angered the people near us who appeared to be quite miserable at the circumstances of the race.  It was a beautiful day and we made the most of it.

 I had to do burpees for failing at the spear throw.  Fortunately that was the only failed obstacle for me since my arms hurt for several days from those 30 burpees.  I can only imagine the pain of failing more than once.  Talks are in place for another Sprint or Super Sprint (distance of 8ish instead of 4ish).