A good Monday morning to you.

Yesterday, unlike last weekend, the cleaning bug infected me and I cleaned up a storm. Craig did his usual bookwork, laundry, and boiled the turkey carcass for some very tasty broth. We'll use the broth instead of water to make mashed potatoes, rice and noodle dishes. Really adds a lot of flavor.

They've had some really good sales out there this year, but nothing to make me get out and fight the crowds. Though I'm temped to go to Staples today for a 21 inch LCD monitor for my desk top puter. It's on sale for only $109.00. That's really good! I've got a 19 inch monitor now, and since I play a lot of games, bigger is better, right? We'll see.

We also have Abbey heating and Air coming this morning to replace our furnace with a 95% energy efficient new one. Our cost? $2731.00. But we'll get a $819.00 tax credit, and a $370.00 Consumers energy rebate, so our final cost is $1542.00. A pretty good deal! And it should also lower our heating bills a bit, I hope. This is what they're installing....

Soooo, while Craig does the banking, shopping, etc, I'll be home, probably on the puter all day. Craig doesn't like people in the house when we're not there, so one of us needs to be here. He thinks if we're both gone, they'll be digging through our stuff, instead of working. Whatever I say. He's always been paranoid about these things, and after all these years, it's just easier to go along. I know what fights to pick, and this one I wouldn't win. But I think I'm way ahead at that game anyway. And the staff at work thinks I get everything I want. I don't, but I get enough. ;-)

Sunday post

A good morning.
Finished another work week. Friday and Saturday were steady, but not overly busy. It's usually that way after Thanksgiving. But I'd rather be at work, than out with those crowds. I did that once, never again. On Friday we had another turkey dinner with leftovers, and then I stripped the carcass and froze the leftover turkey meat, and wrapped the carcass up and put it in the fridge. Craig will boil it today for broth.
Saturday, really needing to cut back on all the eating, we had vegi burgers from Morning Star Farms. These are really some tasty burgers! Our favorites are, Asian Veggie Patties, Mushroom Lover's Burger, and Tomato & Basil Pizza Burgers. Not like regular hamburgers, but with a taste all their own. We usually have sliced onion, salsa, and fat free sliced cheese on them. And served with oven fries. Potatoes cut into strips, marinated in a bag with olive oil, paprika and garlic, spread on a cookie sheet, and baked at 450 for 25 minutes, then flip and continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes til golden brown. Very good.
Today, It's house cleaning time again. And for dinner it'll be a pork stir fry with lots of vegies.
I finally got an e-mail saying my cmos battery has been shipped. Anxious to see if that will bring my laptop back to life. Can't believe no one in the entire Lansing area had one in stock.
Well, I'm off to clean the Salon. Have a good Sunday.

Turkey Day

And a Happy Thanksgiving weekend to everyone!
We had a mostly uneventful Thanksgiving.
I got up at my usual early 5:30, and went into the salon to decorate for Christmas. I refuse to put up decorations before Thanksgiving. Of course, the lighted snowflakes I put in the front window, wouldn't light, So I dashed over to Meijer, where they were having a Thanksgiving day sale. It was very busy. I saw the ad on Wednesday, and didn't see anything of a great deal, but there were a lot of people with full shopping carts. Anyway, They didn't have the ones I wanted, but found an acceptable substitute. Got back to the salon, finished up, and got home in time to shower, and wake Craig. He wanted the turkey in by 10. He showered while I diced the celery and onions for the stuffing. He got the Turkey prepped, stuffed, I seasoned it and sealed it with a foil tent. We use a disposable foil roasting pan, and I taKe aluminium foil and make a domed tent to cover, but not touch the turkey. It seals in the moisture and makes the turkey very juicy. We remove the foil about 15 minutes before done to brown the skin nicely. I then made us lattes, and we read the paper and looked at the ads. Then we watched the Thanksgiving parade. And after that, I played on the puter. About 4 hours into cooking, I heard this noise coming from the oven, It was on fire!
The pan was overflowing with juices, and caught fire from the electric element. I quickly turned off the oven, and opened the Windows so our smoke alarm wouldn't go off. The foil pan we got was smaller than the usual ones, and this was a 16 lb turkey instead of our usual 12-13. So Craig misjudged how much water to put in the pan. This turkey released a ton of water to over flow the pan. Fortunately, we have a large electric roaster. I brought that out, cleaned it up, and transferred the turkey to it.

It finished cooking nicely there, though it took a little longer because of the delay. But it turned out just fine. Here's what we had. scalloped corn, home made mashed potatoes and gravy and of course, turkey!

And yes, you see it right. It took 2 plated for our meal. We stuffed our selves more than we stuffed the turkey. But it was so good! And we still ate pie for desert! And finished the evening, with a movie and more turkey for a snack. It was a very nice day.

Now most of you probably are enjoying a long holiday weekend, but we have to work today and tomorrow. And I'll go in an hour early to finish with the decorations.

So enjoy you long weekend, I've got to get ready for work.

A trifecta

Good morning. Well, I don't know what's wrong with me, but I made it all weekend without doing much. 3 days off, nothing.

I did put another year on my phone. Did that online, it's so easy.

I have a Tracfone. My new phone is on the left, old one right. I had the old one for about 5 years, and the little antenna was about to break off, and they were running a really good deal on a new on. Got the phone for $19.95 with double minutes for the life of the phone. So instead of 400 minutes and 200 bonus minutes I usually get each year, now it's 800 with 200 bonus. So I'm now getting 1000 minutes a year instead of 600. Not that it matters. I don't use the phone very much, so the minutes keep rolling over, and I now have 2780 minutes. But at least I have them if I need/want them.
And with the 1 year service of $99.00, it ends up being like $8.25 a month. You can't get a cell phone for that rate anywhere else!

The other thing I did yesterday was put air in the truck tires. I must have a very slow leak in the passenger front, because I need to put air in it about every 3 months. I need the truck ready in case we get that 4 letter stuff later this week. And Craig won't drive his Honda in the snow. Here's a pic of his baby.

It's a 1998 Honda Accord. It's never seen the snow. Not that it wouldn't drive okay in it, It's just that Craig doesn't want the rust from the salt. So at 11 years old, it still looks brand new. The color is called black currant.

So other than that, I was a lazy bum again. Maybe I felt I need to rest up for today. I've got customers from 9am all the way through until 8:30pm. I will be one tired puppy when I get home tonight. But I'll have tomorrow off.

So now I must get ready for work. Later!

I did it again

Well, yesterday wasn't any different than Sunday. I was a total slug again. I really planned on working outside some....but it never happened. Oh, we did go to the bank, did some grocery shopping, but came home, read the paper, and got on the puter, and there I stayed. All afternoon. Playing one game after another. Maybe it was because I did so much work last weekend, or because the Salon was so busy last week. Or maybe, I was just a lazy butt.

The picture above is from the latest game I was playing, Tower Bloxx. It became quite addicting. You can read more about it here. And if your interested in playing it, you can download the full version free here. I uploaded the game to Rapidshare. It's a file sharing site. Just click on the free button, wait for the clock to run out, then save it to your computer. I save mine to 'my documents' for easy finding. Then double click the file to start the installation.

And while I played on the puter, Craig did more laundry, did some surfing, and made a delicious Beef Stroganoff for dinner. His recipe is, of course, over at Cooking with Craig.

Monday

And a good morning.
I'm a little late posting this morning. I've been busy figuring out some new software on the puter. And as I said yesterday, I was a total slug all day. Spent nearly the entire day on the puter, nothing else. Played some new games I downloaded, caught up on blog reading, and surfed. Craig did his usual laundry and book work. He said we had a profit last month so I could get a new lap top. I said I wanted to try one more thing before I give up on it. I'm going to replace the little battery on the motherboard. That's sounding like it might fix my issues. We'll see.
And just on cue, our Thanksgiving Cactus is in bloom.

Now we don't get a lot of flower's because this is a northerly exposure, so not a lot of sunlight. But it still gives us some blooms in Nov. and the again in April. I also have a Christmas Cactus that will bloom around Christmas, and then again in the summer. It's funny, they look the same, but bloom different. And for dinner, Craig made us a delicious Spaghetti Pizza Casserole.

What you See here is what's left. He makes enough so we'll have leftovers. And I'll need it Wednesday as I'll be working till about 9pm. Ugh! I hate that! But with us closed Thanksgiving Day, I've got to put the people somewhere. And I'm happy we have the people to put!
Oh, and for any one who wants it the recipe is here.

A lazy Sunday

Good morning.
So far November has been a very nice month temp wise. It has allowed me to get all of my out side projects done without freezing my fingers off.
Today, I've all ready cleaned the Salon. And after I take my shower, get lazy bones Craig up, have our coffee and read the paper, we'll go out and get our 3rd turkey. They're soo cheap this time of year, we like to stock up on them.
We also are having a new furnace put in on the 30th. The quote came in very good. $2750.00 for a 95% efficient 2 stage furnace, installed, with a programmable thermostat. We'll get a $819.00 tax credit, plus a $360.00 rebate from our gas company. That makes the new furnace only $1571.00. A pretty good deal I would say. And, it should bring down our heating costs some. So a win, win.
And as far as today goes, I think I'm just gonna take it easy. Maybe a little dusting, but not much else. I'm feelin lazy today.
So that's all for now!

sometimes it's tough

Today was a busy day, and after work, I ended it going to Clare Bridge, an Alzhiemer care facility. I have a customer there. Her husband doesn't like the on staff stylist, so he has arranged for me to go there every 2 weeks and do her hair. It's quite the challenge most visits. Today, she just didn't want to lay back in the shampoo bowl so I could wash her hair. So I just curled her hair without washing it. I though I was doing pretty good talking to her, but I think I need a book to better understand this type of patient. They apparently have 'good' moments and 'bad' moments. She still seems to recognise me as someone she likes, so that helps me to get her to do what I need her to do. But before I got there, she had a 'tiff' with her husband, and she told her him to leave. So I didn't have him to help me. This was the first time she wouldn't let me wash her hair. But I'll keep trying.
In other news, we tried a new recipe for dinner. Spicy-sweet pork tenderloins. They were very good! We had them with pan fried potatoes, and marinated broiled Asparagus. Very tasty! The recipe's here.

And since I'm not a night owl, I'm now tired and need to go to bed. Goodnight...

funny friday and a rant

Well, it's been busy at work this week. It should get steadily busier as we go through the holiday season. Glad I don't work at a store. They've been playing Christmas music for 2 weeks already. And for me, a little Christmas music goes a long way. And now another reason I hate shopping at Walmart. Actually I do occasionally shop there. They do sometimes have better prices on some things, but, this is an example of their advertising tactics. Their Wednesday flier in the paper showed frozen turkeys for $.40 per lb. The cheapest in the area. Meijer's was around $.45, and Kroger, $.49. We usually but 3-4 turkeys. 1, I love turkey. 2, They are by far the cheapest meat you can buy, especial right now. And 3, I love the smell of it cooking all day in the oven. And we eat one on Thanksgiving, one at Christmas, one in February, and one in March. So anyway, I sent Craig over to Walmart after work to pick up a couple. He comes back, no turkeys. He said they were all sold out. I said, 'all sold out'? The ad just came out today, and is good through Thanksgiving! And of course, the ad said select varieties, while supplies last. And that's the kicker. Get them in the store for a deal, but knowing you don't have many at that price, and hope they'll just pay more for another. I hate when stores do that! So, I'll get my turkeys at Meijer. I know they'll be in stock when ever I go there. Just another reason I hate walmart.
So now on to our ff............



And for this ff, with Thanksgiving coming up, how pumpkin pies are really made..........

Have a great weekend!

It's Alive!

Ummm nope, it isn't.
If you remember, my laptop started acting weird. I would turn it on, the fan and lights would come on, then after 10-25 seconds, would turn itself off, and then right back on. It would cycle like this forever until I held the power button down to turn it off. So anyway, everything I read on the Internet led me to believe it was a problem with the graphic card/motherboard configuration, but I kept thinking, why would it all of a sudden start doing this? Then I ran across a post about the BIOS and the clock. Now my battery died a couple of years ago, and since I always plug it in, I thought no problem. It would beep at me when it started with a message about wrong time. I for a while would correct the time, but later just stopped doing that. Well, the post said something about screwing up the Bios if the clock isn't right, so I got into the bios, and the clock read 2006. I changed it to the present date, exited bios, and bingo! Windows loaded! I thought All right! I just need to get another battery! So I left it plugged in, and put it into sleep mode. This morning, when I opened the case, nothing.........black screen, nothing......Tried the bios thing again, nothing........I'm back to the beginning of starting over and over again. So now I'm thinking it's the cmos battery. I guess I'll try replacing that, and go from there.
But in other news, I was a cleaning freak yesterday. I don't know what got into me, but I cleaned and cleaned. Kitchen cabinets, counters, floors, bathroom, TV room, dusted, and vacuumed. It looks great! I even spot painted.
And it looks to be a very busy week at the Salon.
So I'm outta here!

bundle up, it's getting cold!

Good morning.

It's been a dreary cloudy cold couple of days. Sunday, I did some more weatherizing of the house. We have a trap door in the hall that goes into the attic. I decided to put another sealed door over the other to increase insulation. With Craig's advice, I ended up buying a Styrofoam panel rated a 10. Cut 2 pieces out of it to fit the opening. That would give me an extra insulating value of 20 total besides the existing door and blanket insulation on top of that. After I wedged the first panel into place, I could feel cold air coming through one edge.

So I was right in thinking the trap door

with blanket insulation on top wasn't enough!

And since you can't possibly cut Styrofoam perfectly,

I used pipe wrap insulation to fill in the gaps.

I tore sections of pipe wrap, and with a

screwdriver wedged it in the cracks

to form a good seal.

Here's the finished job.

I also redid some of the weather stripping around some doors. And with the furnace on now, I won't need the vent fan in the bathroom, so I took off the cover, and stuffed a bunch of insulation in there too. I think we're pretty much good for winter now.

On Monday, Craig and I went to Muskegon to visit my mom. I cut her hair, took her to Applebees for lunch, and then to the VFW for some pull tabs and the $1 drink specials they have on Mondays. And guess what? We actually won $150.00! Cool! My mom could use some extra cash. I read in the papers how VFW's are struggling around the country, but this one has actually gained memberships. For a Monday afternoon, there were maybe 20-25 people there. But they do a lot to encourage visits. They do Nascar parties in the summer, dinners a couple times a month, with proceeds to charity, football and basket ball parties in the winter. They seem to have something going on all the time.

That's all I got for now......

It's Sunday

Good morning.
The work week ended up busier than expected, so I still haven't got a haircut. But I did get out of work early yesterday, and with a one day of temps in the low 60's, I went home and cleaned all the windows. Inside and out. They sure look good! I should do this more than once a year. :-)
I then got out the caulking and re-caulked around some of the windows.
Then for dinner, Craig made his home made pizza. Yummy! Click the link if you want the recipe. Today, I've already cleaned the Salon, and after this post, take my shower. Poor Craig's on the floor in the living room with the heating pad. His back just isn't getting better as quick as it has in the past.
Today, with temps back down in the low 50's, I'm going to do some more winterizing of the house.
Have a good day.

funny friday and such

Good morning.
It's been very cold in the morning. 23 yesterday. In the 50's during the day. Work has been busier than expected, so I still haven't had my haircut yet. Maybe today. We've got someone coming over next week to give us an estimate on replacing our furnace. They have some real good rebates right now, and our furnace is 25 years old. Don't want to spend the money, but it could cost us half the price if we do it now. We'll see.
And now on to our ff.........

For those of you who watch what you eat,
here's the final word on nutrition and health.
It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats
and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like. Being American is apparently what kills you.

back to work Wednesday

And a good morning.
We had another decent day weather wise. Not as warm as Monday, but mild in the 50's. I put away the deck furniture, and the hose cart. Put insulators over the water faucets, and turned off the water to the outside faucets. Craig did laundry, and mostly took it easy. His back has been giving him problems again. What seems to help is he lays on the floor with a wet towel on his lower back with a heating pad on that, topped with another towel and a couple of heavy books. That creates deep moist heat that helps to loosen his back. He goes through this a couple times a year. I think if he would exercise, that would help his back, but I'm not going there again!
I also cleaned the portable grill for winter storage.

Here's a before and after. It cleans up really good. I do this every season. We got this 4 years ago for the mo-ho. It's about the best portable one we've seen. It has 2 racks for cooking, where most only have one. And the legs fold up and it fits easily in a storage bay of the mo-ho.
In other news, work looks pretty slow this week. I was sure this week would happen sooner or later with us having such busy ones the last month or so. Oh well, maybe I can finally get a haircut and highlight. And we've got another stylist leaving the end of the year. She says she is finally retiring. That will leave us with 3 empty chairs. But it's like this all over. Every Salon on this side of town has empty chairs. And people I've talked to say business is down across the board. I'm sure Michigan's 15% unemployment isn't helping. Even though they say the economy is getting better, from my perspective, it looks to be getting worst. I'm glad Craig is a good money manager. We're still able to take all our mo-ho trips. And it helps a lot that we have no outstanding debt.
Okay, I've rambled on long enough for today.

blah blah blah

Good morning.
Well, we had another nice day weather wise, mid 60's. And that appears that's it. The long term forecast is for near normal temps of low 50's.
Yesterday, after doing our grocery shopping for the week, we changed the oil in the riding lawn mower, the push mower, and the snow blower. I thought we had changed the snow blower in the spring, but could tell when I checked the oil level, we had not. And after that, we changed the tires on Craig's PT Cruiser. He has snow tires that do better in the winter. My truck has all weather tires. And since the mo-ho is now parked for the winter, Craig called and changed the coverage to storage.
We are now pretty much ready for another long Michigan winter. I'm 95% done with the flower beds, and should finish today.
For dinner, I cooked pork cutlets on the grill with grilled marinated zucchini, and baked potatoes.
And we watched our Monday sitcoms, How I Met Your Mother, Accidentally on Purpose, Two and a Half Men, and Big Bang Theory.

busy, busy, busy

Good morning.
Yesterday was just about the nicest day we've had this fall. At least on my day off anyway. So we took full advantage of it and got a ton of stuff done out side.
First off, I didn't get the Salon cleaned. When I went to leave, it was such dense fog, I was going like 25 mph on a 45 mph street. I thought this is crazy! Someone might come barreling down the road! So I turned around and went back home. I'll clean the Salon this morning after I finish this post.
So, while Craig did paper work, I blew leaves off the driveway, patio, and out of the flower beds. And while Craig mowed up all the leaves, I cleaned out the eaves toughs, put away yard art, cut down the rest of the ornamental grasses, reset the out side lights for shorter days, cleaned out the right side garage for Craig's car to park this winter, and ran the mo-ho generator to get gasoline stabilizer through the line.
And with all the leaves and debris cleaned up, parked the mo-ho in it's winter resting spot.

It's quite a snug fit between the garage and a tree next to the fence as you can see in the last 2 pics.

And for dinner, pork steaks on the grill with grilled asparagus, and fried potatoes while enjoying the movie The Hunt for Red October. That was a very good movie. And after that, with nothing we wanted to watch on TV, Craig watched a DVD of Aliens, which I swear he's watched like 50 times, so I went on the puter and caught up on some episodes of Ugly Betty on Hulu. Which I was surprised does very well with my DSL connection.
Well, time to go clean the Salon. I'll be back!

the good, the sad, the yummy.

Good morning.
We finished with the work week, and it ended very busy. It was a happy and sad time. Happy for a good customer of mine I've done for years, as Saturday was her wedding day. I did the wedding party's hair Saturday morning. She seemed very happy. I was surprised when she originally told me she was getting married. She's in her 40's and never been married. I'd never known her to even date. I mean I thought she was gay! She wore her hair very short, and never wore make-up, and I've never seen her in a dress. It just goes to show, looks can be deceiving. Or as they say, don't judge a book by it's cover. Anyway, she was very happy, and I was happy for her.
Also on Saturday, I cut a customer I've done since she was 5, and now she has a 5 year old of her own, and broke the news that her and her husband were getting a divorce. She seemed okay with the decision. She was the one who filed. They apparently had different expectations of their life that are now in conflict. I never knew. Obviously, I don't see that much of peoples lives the short time they're in the Salon. Even if I've done them for years. But I felt sad.
But, as we know, life goes marching on.
The weekend looks to be the best in weeks. Sunny, temps near 70! We should be able to finish up with all the outside stuff.
For dinner last night, Craig made tasty wet burritos! If your interested in the recipe, it's over here. And Craig also rented a couple of movies, Land of the Lost, which was just okay, and Year One, which was actually pretty good.

funny friday and such

Well, after a slow Wednesday, yesterday filled right up, and today I'm working late, and I have a full day tomorrow. Also, next week is filling up nicely. It seems business has been picking up the last few months. So maybe things are getting better.
But then, yesterday, a customer told me that after 24 years, she was let go. She worked for Farm Bureau Insurance. They called her into a conference room, told her her position had been eliminated, asked what she needed from her desk, and was escorted out to her car. 24 years of service, and they treated her like a criminal! They laid off 31 people that day for the reason the company wasn't making it's projected sales targets. And they wonder why there's no employee loyalty any more.
Anyway........
For this edition of ff, don't some days you just feel out of the loop?

Have a great weekend!

blah, blah, get a colonoscopy!

Good morning.
After a productive Sunday and Monday, Tuesday we became lazy slugs. It was cold, (low 40's) windy and wet, and with the coming weekend forecast looking a bit warmer, we just didn't have any incentive to get out and finish our fall tasks, so instead, we drove around looking at laptops, since mine is pretty much dead, and too expensive to repair. Didn't buy one. Think we'll wait closer to Christmas when there's more sales. We did stop at Claddagh Irish Pub for a mid day snack. They have some really good wings! though a bit expensive. Later at home, I started to research places of interest for next summers trips while Craig finished up with the laundry from the mo-ho. I also got a call from my doctor to schedule my up-coming Colonoscopy. I booked it for early Dec. to get it over with. This will be my 3rd already. The reason for so many is my dad died from Colon Cancer at the very young age of 59. He was diagnosed at 53 when the removed a tumor the size of a baseball. My doctor said he could easily have had polyps at 43. So that was my first one, followed 5 years later for my 2nd. Both being clear, I was told I could go 7 years next, which is this year. So anyway, fun times. And let this be a reminder for anyone out there who is 50 or older, get a Colonoscopy! It's a very simple procedure, and the easiest cancer to cure if caught early. I finally got Craig in for one when he was 55, and they found 5 polyps. All benign, but better be safe than dead! And we've had 2 customers die from this before the age of 50, so go get tested! Okay, I'm off my soapbox now.
I'm off to work early today. Have a teeth cleaning appt. at 8am. Not a real busy week this week, so maybe I can get my hair cut and highlighted.
So off I go now.

Good afternoon.
It's a wet rainy day here today. But yesterday was dry, and we took full advantage of it. I spent nearly the entire day on leaves. Leaves off the roof, out of the driveway, off the deck, and off the lawn. Leaves, leaves and more leaves! I've never seen the trees drop them so fast. Craig did his usual bookwork, and then burned up a large pile of branches that had been accumulating. Then for dinner we had Herb Roasted Pork, and Roasted Butternut Squash, with mashed potatoes. I've started a new blog with Craig's recipes, so I don't bore other readers not interested in them. So just click on the link for the recipes. The squash was really good. I usually just bake, scoop, and mash butternut, but this was a nice change.
Today, while Craig did laundry, I finished cleaning out the mo-ho, removing batteries from all the stuff such as clocks, remotes, sensors, etc. , and gave it a good thorough cleaning so it'll be ready in the spring.
I'm now cooking chicken on the grill while Craig is fixing fried cabbage and a noodle dish for dinner.
Have a good evening.

A halloween party

Good morning from Lansing.
Last night we did something we hadn't done in years, went to a Halloween party. We'd been invited to a good friends, Kristi and Jay's, annual party. We've never gone before, and decided we should. We dug out a big box of costume stuff we've saved over the years. I ended up wearing a Pharaoh costume, and Craig, the butterfly naturalist costume.

The Pharaoh costume was originally Craig's, but it doesn't fit him too well anymore for some reason, tee hee, so I inherited it. It is completely hand made. Craig fashioned the serpent on the head piece from modeling clay, and I macramed the jeweled thing around the neck way back nearly 30 years ago when I did that stuff and when macrame was 'in'.

Anyway we had a great time. They we're happy we came, and they had quite the decorated yard with lights, music, stuff all over the place! Jay goes crazy for Halloween and really does it up big! They also had a fire with a cauldron and steaming ghoul juice, which tasted like a warm spiced cider. It was a blast!

My eyes are still a bit tender this morning after trying to get off 30 year old make-up. I think we need to update some stuff if we plan on doing this sort of thing again.