The Spooky Will Get You...

Owl

OK, I'll confess that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love to decorate, and it's just adorable... Even the super-icky decorations that some of our neighbors put out? I've gotta admire their creativity. Even as I look sideways at some of the displays! 

So I was talking about The Great Pumpkin - and I don't mean the Peanuts version. This pumpkin was actually in my dad's hospital room. My SIL brought it in for him once and set it on the window ledge. 

He promptly said, "Fer crissake - you could land a plane with that light!!" So I ended up taking it home. It's been on our porch every Halloween since. 

Skeleton Flamingo

Every year, I try to shake up the decorations; this year, though, we're kind of taking it easy. I did buy some new yard stakes; they don't glow in the dark, but the reflective paint reminds me of the stuff they use on the roads! 

Here are some shots of the various decorations. 

Call me morbid, but I get a huge kick out of the skeleton flamingo! Yes, I actually have the plastic pink flamingo yard art. And I have skeleton plastic figures, too, but I can't remember where I put them. 

I also stuck a wreath-ish thing on the door. Which nobody will see since our "front" door actually faces the "side" -- it's off the side of the porch. 

Oh well. I like it. And I guess that's what counts, right?

Therapy Dog Gig

Today is our therapy gig, but I am just waiting to see how the weather holds out. Unfortunately, Tippi does't like thunderstorms. So we'll see. Hopefully it'll all work out so that we're there and gone before anything comes up. 

Luckily, I have the "magic parking pass" and I can park up close to one of the buildings. We'll be doing our work INSIDE today! 

Autumn Wreath

Tippi's almost got her required 50 visits in to advance to the next level of TDI - and I'm excited about that. She still enjoys it, so we still go. 

Zonta -- Proclamation

Tonight is our annual "City Council Proclamation" meeting. Our Zonta Club (check here) comes before the City Council on or near UN Day to get a proclamation reinforcing the work we do as a local club and our contributions to the greater Zonta International effort to advance the status of women. Zonta International does such good work - Safe Cities programs, educating young women, providing funds for scholarships. 

We're lucky to have a vibrant club in our area. Our club also sponsors 3 scholarships for girls, and we do a lot of service work. Our current service work is with Habitat for Humanity - our local affiliate is Will County Habitat for Humanity. We love to be able to get hands-on with the projects!

Our current president has to make a speech; I'm just there to take the group picture! We're also going to be going to the local County Board meeting as well, but I am not sure I'll be making that meeting. We'll have to see. 

Knitting

No assembly work on the afghan today. Working on a white Fluffy Scarf. Can someone tell me why in the world they split the ball?? I had to iron a few feet of the yarn and double it up because they had a huge splice in the middle. Yeesh. 

It's coming along, though. Knitting while watching "A League of Their Own." I think we'll have to acquire a copy of it - even though I know it's not exactly PG rated. I'm not a big fan of cussing in the movies. Call me squeamish, but there it is.

Random Photo

Shower Cake

This is a "tropical theme" shower cake from my friend Jodie's wedding. She and her Hubby have just celebrated an anniversary. 

I made this and their wedding cake. This one was a yellow cake with no filling except buttercream. The fishes on the top represent the fact that their wedding was a cruise wedding; we didn't attend. I'm betting it was a great time; the wedding cake I made was actually for a post-cruise celebration, so that worked out well. They're a great couple! 

Their wedding cake served 300 - and I was going to put on a variety of stands, but since their reception was outdoors, in a stiff breeze, next to a sand volleyball court... we went with a table display! 

Reading

...well, kind of about knitting! I'm re-reading "Knitting Rules" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee - a/k/a The Yarn Harlot. I've read all of her stuff and she's really funny.

The Great Pumpkin

Also, on the Kindle, working my way through the Jane Austen collection. Mostly through "Emma" now. I may order "I am Malala" and either put that on the Kindle or order it as a "real" book.

Kid #2 wants a signed copy of "Rant" by Chuck Palahniuk. His favorite author next to Kurt Vonnegut. That'll be interesting. 

Which reminds me, I have to visit Amazon for some stuff. I'll have to stay away from the knitting books section! And the yoga books section... And the fiction section... (sigh)

Well, back to the Fluffy Scarf. Total of 7 and I've got 1.5 done.