This post is all about bragging. That’s right, I’m writing this just so I can sing my own praises. And, since I am longwinded, my boasting is sure to be lengthy.
Last spring Jason and I planted a garden. We have just one 8×4 garden box in our yard but it’s big enough to provide more fresh deliciousness than two people could possibly consume: squash, cucumbers, onions, peppers, and, of course, tomatoes. Although all of our garden plants did well this year, our tomato vines were extraordinarily productive. From two tomato plants we harvest at least 429 tomatoes over the course of the summer. I tried to diligently keep track of how many we pulled off expressly for the purpose of rubbing it in everyone’s faces but I forgot to count my bounty now and then so 429 is a low estimate. And don’t you be thinking that that quantity was only possible because our pickings were pathetically small; no way, these were big juicy babies. Yum!
This is just one of the many pretty perfect tomatoes our plants supplied.
So what’s our secret? Did we spray our tomatoes nightly with mutant growth hormone? Make sacrifices to the great tomato gods? No and no. Though maybe we should have tried one of those proactive approaches so we could take credit for our tomatoes being awesome because, honestly, they pretty much did it on their own. We filled our entire garden box with a special soil blend from Olson’s Nursery specifically formulated to make garden box plants happy. It was well worth the $100 or so it cost us. We also, purposefully, built our garden box in the perfect sunny spot on the south side of our house. And that is pretty much the extent of our gardening labors. Sounds like a lot of work, right? Sunshine + nutritious soil = more tomatoes than we know what to do with.
So what has become of those nearly 500 tomatoes? Salsa, salsa, salsa, salsa, some pasta sauce, salsa, salsa, salsa. And, now that the weather has gotten cooler, tomato soup has become our new favorite way to use up lots of tomatoes. (I would highly recommend Tyler Florence’s recipe.)
That brings me to the sad part of this post; the part where I whine instead of brag. It is now time to pull up those hardy tomato plants that have provided their fruits so faithfully for months. Goodbye good fellows and thanks for all the fish…I mean veggies. I will morn your loss forever, or for about 7 months, whichever comes first. After said time I reserve the right to forget all about you and pursue my latest vegetable fling; I’m so fickle.
Although our Halloween party is practically an all-consuming affair, Jason and I love fall and Halloween too much to miss out on all the other seasonal activities just because we’ve got that whole party mess to work out.
How is it that the actors at places like this instantly know exactly who is the weakest link? This guy knew right away that he would get the best reaction out of me and didn't even bother trying to scare the guys.You couldn't even approach Nightmare on 13th without their freaks finding you...especially if you happen to be a short mousy thing like me.
Early in October we took our friend Arvinder, who is visiting the U.S. from India for the first time, to Nightmare on 13th in Salt Lake City, which is one of the top haunted houses in the country. We thought this might be a little too much cultural immersion for him but he loved his good American scare. Before he would go into each new area at the haunted house he’d guess where all the creeps would be hiding and anticipate their surprise; he’d jump and then laugh whenever something startled him and he made sure he told all the actors that they were awesome.
Being"stuffed" isn't usually considered an attractive characteristic but this scarecrow had it going on. Maybe it's because women simply can't resist a man in flannel.These pumpkins were definitely not comfy but they made for some great pictures.Our group forgot about acting our age at Cornbelly's. We assailed each other with corn kernels, climbed up slides and raced down them, and crawled through makeshift tunnels. Being a grownup is overrated.I love this cute picture of Jason chilling in the pumpkins.I'm a sucker for a swing so these horses were completely irresistible.
We also went to Cornbelly’s a few weeks ago with a group of our friends. Agriculture may seem anything but entertaining, however, if that is the case, then Cornbelly’s is at odds with the natural state of the universe. Corn mazes, haunted hayrides, rubber ducky races, straw mazes, crazy slides, corn cannons, tetherball, and pig races are just a few of the endless activities that will divert you at Cornbelly’s. We quite enjoyed running, climbing, sliding, and crawling around like kids. We raced our duckies, climbed on rope webs, mulled over straw mazes, and held fierce sliding competitions. We had a blast but I am sad to report that we failed to successfully navigate a corn maze; after wandering around in one for almost 2 hours we found ourselves back at the entrance, not the exit, so, with that demoralizing blow, we gave up.
That scurvy dog looked like he may have already visited Davey Jones' Locker or the Fiddler's Green a few times.Have you ever seen such a bunch of lily-livered scallywags?Jeremy and Amber came as Captain Hook and Smee. Amber made their fantastic costumes of course.By the powers! These jacks played some mighty fine tunes.The figurehead on this amazing ghost ship was very chatty.
After our party was over, and time didn’t seem so compressed, we had a chance to attend a couple gatherings that we didn’t have to do any of the prep work for. Hallelujah! In addition to dropping by an adults-only bash hosted by Jason’s brother we went to a pirate themed shindig with the Rowleys, which was also just for grownups. The buccaneer party was put on by Jeremy’s boss, who happens to be the owner of the company he works for. It was definitely an atypical affair. Apparently the host spent over $60,000 on the custom animatronics he had build solely for this get-together. However, his many obsessed employees, who were the source of this information, were definitely prone to extreme exaggeration and out-right bragging when it came to their esteemed chief so I would be surprised if that cost estimate wasn’t on the high side but, either way, it was obvious that quite a bit of mullah had been shelled out to make this event happen. We loved the swashbuckling atmosphere, the yummy grog and grub, and dancing the Macarena. More than anything though we enjoyed being guests at this gathering instead of hosts.
I think that wig was meant for a child. In fact, I believe Jason wore it as a child. He wanted to race with it even though it didn't fit his huge head.Angelic? I don't think so.
On the 30th we decided to participate in a 5k fundraiser for Hale Center Theater called the Highway to Hale. The main appeal of this particular race was that costumes were encouraged; Jason and I were all about that. We didn’t want to wear anything too annoying though while we were racing so I simply donned angel wings and a halo while Jason sported a clown wig and some rather bright spider web socks. A lot of the other runners put Halloween spirit over comfort and raced in all sorts of completely awkward gear: a cow suit, a giant Wheaties box, a frigid looking grass skirt and coconut shells combo (on a guy). We saw a group dressed as Mario Kart characters with cardboard boxes strapped around their necks serving as the karts. They looked great and were surprisingly graceful running with their bulky boxes…yeah, they passed me. Sad. Although I was outrun by the cardboard box people I still placed 17th out of the over 60 women in my age division. Jason, of course, put me to shame though. He finished 6th in his age group and, out of hundreds of race participants, he finished 23rd overall. What can I say? I’ve created a monster.
Chiseling our heads was fun work but Jason, predictably, cut himself.Bone-rrific!The innards of these may look like pumpkin vomit but they tasted a lot like hamburger meat mixed with onions, mustard, and cheese.Toe-tastic? Looks more like finger-licious.
I decided that since we had over a week between our party and Halloween, enough time to sort of recuperate, that on Halloween I wanted to make a spooky dead man’s dinner for Jason. Jason was eager to help create this delicious yet disgusting feast so together we made shrunken head cider, bone calzones, trick-or-treat turnovers, and toe jam sundaes. Sounds scrumptious doesn’t it? It was actually quite tasty and a lot of fun to make. Preparing an unappetizing meal might just be a new Halloween tradition for us.
Halloween is a big holiday for us and a massive time drain. Every year we put in hours and hours of work to plan, decorate, and execute a Halloween party of ludicrous proportions. We love it and hate it but we always end up doing it again. After all, who else would put on something this elaborate if we didn’t?
Jason requested that I make us superhero costumes this year. I consented but decided I wanted to be a hero related to my intriguing profession. Thus, the Five a Day Avenger was born: saving the world one serving of fruits and veggies at a time! Those that won't eat their veggies will be bombarded by them. My awesome lemonades (like grenades...get it?) were detachable and a lot of fun to chuck at the unsuspecting. Jason was super excited to be my ridiculously useless sidekick Banana Man. I created these rotten eggs a number of years ago but I still love them. I really dig this picture of my cute and creepy spider with glowing eyes.
Since this was our tenth year hosting this madness we knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into. We’ve learned from experience just how long it takes to do what and we start preparing in August. Our familiar schedule keeps us from outright panicking as the party too quickly approaches. However, Jason’s weak body put a few kinks in our usual timetables this year. The week of our party, which is always overflowing with to-dos, he decided to get a flu shot when they were offered for free at his work. His body did not approve. Since the flu shot this year is a combo that contains both the swine flu and the regular run-of-the-mill flu vaccines, apparently there is a greater than normal chance for adverse reactions…and Jason’s reaction I would definitely place under the adverse umbrella. In the evening of the day he got the shot he became ill almost instantly; one minute he was saying his stomach didn’t feel too well and the next he was making a mad dash to the bathroom like it was a new Olympic sport. Sadly, that mad dash was just the first of many to come. The explosive vomiting and diarrhea that ensued forced Jason to spend the night on the floor just outside the bathroom so he could successfully make it to the toilet as often as he required, which turned out to be about every twenty minutes. Poor boy! He was utterly useless to me for a couple days and since he represents half of our party taskforce (to be realistic it’s more like 40%) his illness was a significant blow to our preparations. To make matters worse we weren’t 100% certain at that point that it was his shot, and not some contagious disease, that made him sick so we didn’t know if an extended allotment of time on the toilet was my inescapable destiny. With the future a question mark and manpower in short supply I went into extreme party prep mode. I was so distracted by everything I needed to get ready that I am embarrassed, yet quite amused, to report that I forgot to change my underwear for almost three days. Yes, you should be grossed out right now; it’s disgusting and so unlike me! It makes me chuckle just thinking about it.
The Ashleys weren't able to stay too long but they were present long enough for me to pelt Jacob square in the neck with one of my lemonades-mission accomplished.These potion jars were a new addition to our Halloween decor this year. I came across them online and had to buy them. I HAD to Jason.Silas was dang cute wearing one of the witch noses I handed out to the kids. Lauren rocked the contests at our party. She won best costume and her Minnie Mouse pumpkin prevailed in the carving arena.
Despite the unexpected challenges, ones that most people wouldn’t admit to in a public setting such as this, come party time everything was ready and Jason and I were both well. We had crafts and a piñata for the kids again followed by Bingo for everyone. Bingo was a huge hit this year. So many people wanted to participate that I ran out of score cards and there were no free seats at the tables so a few players had to stand. I’ve never seen so many adults under the age of fifty get so excited about that game. It was a lot of fun!
Adam made a great Beetlejuice and won second place for his sweet costume. The Browns' little girls were fascinated by all of our Halloween decor. I love it when kids are wowed by our transformed house; it makes all that work worth it. My mom and dad played nerd and bag lady very well. Maybe these roles were a good fit for them? Jason made this tombstone, along with several others, 6 or 7 years ago and it's been a standard at our party ever since...but always in a new and creative spot.
Our costume contest was won by Lauren with her bride of Frankenstein outfit. She looked fabulous! She also took home the prize for the best carved pumpkin. Way to score Lauren!
This bunch of hooligans is comprised of the costume contest winners and various other party goers that for some reason answered to the call of winner. And yes, you can see Jeremy's bat patch. Bingo was very intense this year. It was fun to see all of the adults going just as crazy for the prizes as the kids.
We hope you, our illustrious band of friends, enjoyed yourselves at our shindig. We thank you for your company, your amusing costumes, and your shenanigans. We will be eternally grateful to you for making our get-together anything but dull! I’d say I look forward to doing it all again next year but I think it will be a few months before I will be able to say that with complete honesty.
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