Where I've Been Lately...

A Run-Down of the Last Month

I can't believe that I've been absent from my darling blog for a month. School is kicking my butt right now and what I like to do when I'm not watching my kiddo, traveling to conferences, making new lesson plans for new units or reading is sleep (and, I've been doing very little of that lately). Sorry dear blog, I'd like to say it won't happen again, but really, shouldn't teaching be easier after 14 years?! And, while planning lessons we still managed to visit family, go on shopping trips, plan a birthday party and do all the normal day to day things October brings! I even read some books...light and fluffy and full of non-sense, but books just the same.

Here's the breakdown on my activities...by week...

September 25th-October 2nd
Jackets Unite and fun at the park

On the Merry-Go-Round, pretty sure she liked this a lot.

Nerd Day during Spirit Week. This is one pic
in the card for our department head, who was out with
a broken wrist. I can't show you the other pic...
it involves David Duchovny and some tea.

Homecoming 2012!!!

October 2nd-October 9th
I made the tutu. She wants to decorate it!

October 9th-October 16th
Pumpkin Patch and Happy Birthday!!!

[Gunter Farm]

October 16th-October 23rd
Dinner with Friends

October 23rd-Tomorrow
I'm pretty excited for this week!!! 

Happy Halloween

Happy Birthday Dear Sister Kimberley!!!

13 Halloween Questions

Who doesn't enjoy a
lovely vintage postcard?
[Source]

So, my sister was born on Halloween and I've spent most of my life thinking of Halloween as being a time of crazy celebration...I mean ice cream, cake and candy...what more could someone ask for?

I found the questions below at So Many Books and thought they'd be fun to answer.

Which urban legend ghost scared the bejeesuz out of you when you were a kid?

Well, the one about the boy who collects moths and butterflies and he enjoys putting them in the jars and killing them and one night these moths and butterflies come and get him and drag him across the swamp and in the end he is pinned to a tree deep in the forest. I think our librarian read it from Tales From the Midnight Hour.

Which horror movie has the best premise?

Gothika "Ghost story in which a repressed female psychiatrist wakes up as a patient in the very asylum where she worked with no memory of why she is there and what she has done."...There's something so scary about deserted psych wards full of ghosts.

What is the most disappointing “treat” to receive in your bag on Halloween night?

Well, anything that wasn't professionally wrapped because we had to wait for Mom to expect it and more often than not we weren't allowed to eat it...

What’s the best non-candy item to receive?

Stickers, I am, and will always be a sucker for stickers.

Did a monster live in your closet when you were a child?

Nah, I was never really scared of monsters. Of course, it probably helped that the closet door was always opened and its light was always on.

Which supernatural creature sent chills up your spine when you were ten and still does?

Zombies. They are not cool undead, like vampires and they spend their whole existence trying to find you and attack you so you turn into a zombie or even worse they try to eat your brains out and the only thing that stops them is the daylight...zombies are frightening and real.

Which supernatural creature makes you yawn?

Vampires, they're a little overdone now and it seems that they don't really want to suck your blood, they just want to suck face and be mopey. Thanks for ruining a really scary creature there, Stephenie Meyer, with your sparkly, moody vamps.

What’s your favorite Halloween decoration?

Any really, I love that people are decorating their houses in the same manner that they would for Christmas...I love scarecrows and pumpkins and purple lights...sigh...

If you could be anywhere on Halloween night, where would you be?

I always enjoy going out on Halloween, not to dress up in costume, but to see others dressed up in costume...pretty cool, well except for the Borat wrestling costumes...not cool at all.

What’s the scariest book you’ve read so far this year?

Um, I don't really like to read things that scare me. I have a tendency to read something so very fast if I read something scary. The closest I've gotten to scary is Horns, but then...not so scary really.

Haunted houses or haunted hayrides?

Haunted houses scare the crap out of me...seriously, I've only been to one and one is enough.

Which Stephen King novel/movie would you least like to find yourself trapped in?

Pet Sematary. I would not want to be killed by my undead toddler. Sometimes I hear "No Daddy, no" in my head for no reason at all. Killer children are evil and scary. They rank right up there with killer dolls. Gahhhh! I'm going to have nightmares just thinking about them.

Which is creepiest: evil dolls, evil pets, evil children?

Evil children, first *insert cold chill* and then evil dolls...all dolls, especially those porcelain ones with the heads that can spin and have smiles that never reach their cold, dead eyes...and then pets.

Halloween Songs...

Lila Jane was born on the 16th, her cousin a few days earlier and my sister was born on Halloween...I have no choice, but to like all things Autumn/Fall and Halloween. Frankly, I can't think of a holiday that I don't like...anyway, to get in the swing of things (after all I have a birthday party to plan...although I hear the 2nd is as easy as 1st) I'm thinking the guest (who will be mostly adult) need a party favor of delicious Halloween music. Here's my list:

1] Thriller...Michael Jackson
I'm guessing if you make a Halloween CD and don't include this you are committing some sort of sin.
2] Monster Mash...Bobby "Boris" Pickett
You can check out my deep love for this song here.
3] Nightmare on My Street...DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
I know all the words...I love to sing them...er...rap them to my students.
4] The Time Warp...Rocky Horror Picture Show
The only dancing I can do is dancing that has directions built into the song.
5] This is Halloween...The Nightmare Before Christmas
If you follow this blog at all, you know that I'm not the only one who knows this song by heart.
6] Zombie...The Cranberries
I think this is supposed to be some anti-war song, but on Halloween...
7] Last Dance with Mary Jane...Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
This song is creepy, but the video is even creepier...nothing says Halloween more...really...
8] Ghostbusters...Ray Parker Jr.
Please see the explanation for #1 and #3
9] Somebody's Watching Me...Rockwell
Creepers creeping and the video fills me with delight...I'm sure at one time it was...um...scary.
10] Werewolves of London...Warren Zevon
This song reminds me of my high school journalism teacher and of Halloween.
11] The Devil Went Down to Georgia...The Charlie Daniels Band
One of the best songs of its genre, so fun to sing and to dance to...ish.
12] Theme from The X-Files...X-Files: Fight the Future
I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't include the theme to my favorite SF show.
13] The Purple People Eater...Sheb Wooley
This song is actually scary than it sounds...listen to the words sometime and then run for cover.
14] Possum Kingdom...The Toadies
Vampires and those that love them...reminds me of Halloween during college...sigh.
15] John Wayne Gacy Jr...Sufjan Stevens
Even if you only listen to this once...go now, listen to the most disturbing ode to a serial killer...ever.
16] Don't Fear the Reaper...Blue Oyster Cult
Sure, SNL made this song funny, "More cowbell"...it's still good for Halloween.
17] Witchy Woman...The Eagles
Anytime I ask the students to come up with a song to describe Abigail Williams this is what they pick.
18] Halloween...Sonic Youth
If you were in college in the 90s and this wasn't played at any Halloween parties, well...
19] Hell...Squirrel Nut Zippers
I love to sing this song, I love the music...I love that my mother doesn't really like it...hahaha.
20] I'm a Goner...Matt and Kim, Soulja Boy and Andrew WK
New to me...Matt and Kim are new to me...I enjoy it.

I might add Black Magic Woman (another Abigail song)...if there's room, but, what do you think?

And, just incase you were wondering I make CD list and CD compilations all of the time...I miss the mix tape and, if you are interested, I have a lovely little boy compilation (my friend was having her first child...boy, he needed a commerative CD) and I also have a lovely girl compilation that I gave out to the guest at one of my showers.

Have a listen of the Top 100 Songs of Halloween.
A great indie list of songs I mostly have never heard before.

This is Halloween...This is Halloween...

...well, at least at my house anyway, where we have watched

at least once a day since Monday...I'm not sure I'll last until Halloween. She really likes the songs and Jack Skellington (it's funny to hear an almost two year old pronounce that) and Sally. Frankly, I do too!

And, she just said, "I want some more monsters."

Christmas Sparkles

Ok, so my kiddo is really into sparkly things ("What 14 month old girl isn't?", I'm told. I'll just have to take everyones word for it). She is also a voracious reader...ok, ok, I know she doesn't really read, but she does point to words and babble and then looks over or up at me to make sure that I'm paying attention. She'll read a page, I'll read the whole book, she goes back to the pages that she likes, and, the pages that she goes back to always have sparkles and bright colors. Yesterday, I finally got out all the board books for the holidays and we started reading those...there's one about an angel, one about the baby Jesus that plays "Silent Night" and one about a special star...the one that she's most drawn to, however, is one that got into the pile on accident...it's called Happy Sparkling Halloween, and she can't get enough of it!!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!