Halloween III

When we moved in, there was what was essentially decorative fencing on the side of the house.  We didn’t want it up, but we didn’t want to get rid of it – you just never know when you’re going to need a short picket fence.  So it got moved to the back of the shed and essentially forgotten until this year when I pulled two pieces out and  painted them black.  I was originally thinking that they’d go at the end of the driveway, but they ended up by the front walk.  I think next year I’ll paint two more pieces and go with the end of the driveway.  Cuz nothin’ says “Welcome!” like black fences, right?

Actually, this fence does say “Welcome.”

Before the kids got to the fence, they had to get past the hanging skeletons.

And as they made their way to the front door, they encountered a couple little creatures…

I hung black curtains and put spider webs on the windows.  I used several of my big spiders on the railing and columns.

A couple more creatures on the front porch…

I used my fog machine on Halloween night.  I love it in conjunction with my head-in-a-ball because the head is motion activated.  So when the fog shoots out of the machine, it makes the head dispense his wisdoms.  Most kids thought it was pretty cool.

Sorry I don’t have any action shots of the fog and head doing their schtick or any nighttime photos.  Sheesh, what kind of blog am I trying to run here anyway?

Hopefully I’ll have the last Halloween post for you tomorrow: Cowgirl 2.0 and some VERY yummy treats.

Two halves equal a whole?

I ran my second half-marathon on Sunday.  It’s the same one I ran last year, the City of Oaks half-marathon through downtown Raleigh then down Hillsborough Street and back to the Bell Tower. 

I had my usual breakfast of champions: cold leftover pizza.  This was a white pizza with mushrooms from Daniel’s.  {I only ate two pieces, not all four that were in the box that morning.}

This is what 5:40 a.m. looks like.  It ain’t pretty.  {See Tori down at the bottom hoping to snag a bite of pizza?}

Okay, the race.  I started off really strong.  I felt good.  The worst part was how cold my hands were, which was an especially a bad thing when my left shoe came untied and I had to tie it with numb and uncooperative fingers.  I hit the 6-mile mark after 50 minutes and mile 8 came much quicker than I anticipated.  Yup, things were going swimmingly, unlike last year when my IT band got mad at me and protested painfully for the remainder of the race.

Apparently I not only counted my chickens before they hatched, but I sold them and cashed the check because I was thinking, “Five more miles to go, I can do that in my sleep!”

Then I dropped my basket of eggs and they all broke.  Coming up on mile 10, both my calves through the backs of my knees got super tight and crampy.  I made it almost to the turnaround point on Blue Ridge Road and I just had to walk.  I gave myself a minute then picked up the pace.  Unfortunately, my calves still hurt and the blisters on my feet were screaming.  I traded off walking and running, then finally stopped and stretched my calves against the metal pole of a sign.  That helped, but I’m afraid it was too late because the relief was momentary; it was back as soon as I started jogging again.

The discomfort was so bad that I could see the finish line and still had to stop and stretch my calves in order to at least jog across the finish line.  Otherwise, I was going to be walking if I was lucky and crawling if I wasn’t.

So my official time was 1 hour 58 minutes-ish.  I say “ish” because I think the timers were off a bit on this race.  If you look at the race results, I finished in just over an hour and fifty-nine minutes.  The split for the 10k shows I crossed that line in 54 minutes, but I saw the timer and it said 52 minutes, and I didn’t even GET to the start line until two minutes after the gun time.  So, yeah. 1 hour and 58 minutes-ish.

So of course I’m proud that I finished this race.  But I’m disappointed that I didn’t do better.  My goal was 1 hour 50 minutes, but a small part of me really thought I could do it in an hour and 45 minutes.  Finishing in that time would’ve put me in the top 15 of my age group.  Instead I was 40th (out of 170).

But enough about me.  There were about 3,500 other runners out there on Sunday.  Leigh ran the 10k, and Jari, Logan, Anna, and her coworker, Brian, all ran the half-marathon.

We ran into Jari as she was coming out of the beer garden.  Here’s the whole gang.

I would like to run one more half-marathon, but the next one needs to be somewhere flat, or at least less hilly that this one whose topography is apparently similar to the Boston Marathon, which YOU HAVE TO QUALIFY FOR.  Yeah, not just anyone can show up and run that thing because it’s an elite race run on a challenging course, and they don’t want any old Joe and Flo Schmo taking up precious space out there.

So that’s all from this definitely-not-Flo-Jo Flo for now.  I’m going to go back to stretching my sore calves and work up the energy to walk the dogs.  Between the aching legs and the time change, I’m not feeling too motivated to stray very far from the comfy couch and my warm laptop.

{Oh yeah, I can’t forget to give a shout-out to my number-one fan.  The McHusband got up just before 7:00 so he could get out to the race and see me finish.  Thank you, McHusband, for being there for me.}

Halloween II

So we went to Steve and Tawnya’s for their annual Halloween bash.  Tawnya carved THIRTEEN pumpkins, some of which she carved a couple times because they rotted and had to be done over.  That’s a lot of pumpkin guts.

Steve’s project was a drink and ice station shaped like a coffin.  How cool is that?

Steve was Dr. Frank-n-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Tawnya was Magenta.

Back to the decor.  Tawnya made a skull cake.  She actually made it twice.  Redoing things seems to be a theme at this party…

See the body outline on the floor?  Tawnya had her son model for that. 

The piano could only have been better if it were one of those that played by itself.

Tawnya’s still doing boot camp so she invited Andrea and her co-trainer, Pete.  Andrea’s the biggest Kid Rock fan ever so she brought him with her.

Our neighbors, Scott and Kara, were Mike Tyson and Robin Givens.

And the other neighbors, Sharon and Dave, were Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

Carrie and Alicia were cute as Buffy and a vampire.

But not as cute as this guy!

Hope you’re not quite Halloweened out just yet, more to come!

A message from Emma

My mom says she’s sorry there’s not a Halloween post today.  She was tired and just wanted to chill on the couch with some TV and Dad.

Oh yeah, she’s running a half-marathon on Sunday so send go-fast-and-don’t-get-hurt vibes her way.

Have a great weekend!

Halloween

I’m doing pretty good to have my Halloween post only a few days after the actual holiday.  However, I should admit that our first Halloween party was actually on the 22nd so I guess, really, this post, almost two weeks later, is right on time in my world.

Our neighbors, Steve and Tawnya, have adopted Halloween as “their” holiday to go all out for.  And boy do they! 

I borrowed Chelle’s cowgirl gear – shirt, hat, boots, belt, and gun – to make my costume.  The only thing of mine (besides my unmentionables) was the skirt.  The McHusband chose to wear a complementary costume.  He borrowed a hat and bought a belt buckle and shoes that would look Western enough for his purposes.

What do you think, did they work?

Both shoes were supposed to be like the one on the right.  He wore the shoes this way to the party that night (since we discovered the shoes were more fraternal than identical about 10 minutes before the party), then he exchanged the brother-from-another-mother the next day.

Enough about the shoes.  Tada, here we are!  Cowgirl and…Kenny Chesney.

And here we are giving our serious looks.  Because we’re hardcore country folks with septic tanks and no sidewalks in our neighborhood.

Much like Halloween the movie, this post is going to have several sequels.  Probably not quite as many as the movie (I think I counted 5 sequels/prequels/spinoffs), but I’d guess at least three since we had two parties and I made two treats.  Oh, and I almost forgot that I’ll have to show you my decorations.

Hmm, maybe there will be as many sequels as the movie after all…

Owen’s Birthday: The Party

Okay, enough about the food, let’s get on with the fun!

There was pumpkin decorating.

And swinging and sliding.

Bri and I looked super cute together in our stripes and aviators.

Then Shannon and the big kids joined us.

Time for presents!  Everyone was very generous and Owen got tons of great stuff.  Per Shannon’s suggestion, we got Owen a bike.  It was a team effort; I bought it, the McHusband put it together.  And Tucker?  Well, he provided the moral support.

While Owen was busy with the last couple of gifts, I got the bike from my car and parked it behind a post.  Shannon manned the camera and caught Owen’s reaction for me.  I think this picture’s worth more than a thousand words.

Owen rides his new bike

A few party details.  My mom and Shannon did a terrific job of using what they had to create the party’s John Deere theme.

At one point, I was leaning over a picnic table refilling my cup with diet Coke.  I felt something on my butt and knew exactly what it was – Owen with his new grabber toy – but I figured Calvin put him up to it.  When I turned around, sure enough, there was Owen, but no Calvin.  What a little stinker!  His Uncle McHusband would be so proud.

I can’t forget about the babies.  Olivia was really good during the party.  She was pretty content to hang out in her stroller so long as someone was with her.

G'ma was really happy to get her hands on Miss Maxie.

Toward the end of the party, Owen came rushing back into the picnic shelter from the playground.  He was heading in my general direction and I decided to take advantage of his momentum and see if I could get a hug.  He jumped right into my arms and gave me the BEST hug as I lifted him up.  I could just tell it came from his heart and even now thinking about it and writing about it, it makes me tear up.  Surely being an aunt is second only to being a parent.

I drove 2.5 hours to Statesville, stayed there for 4 hours, then drove 2.5 hours home.  It was worth every minute in the car to be there that afternoon.