Jack O' Lantern

To make up for all the scary stuff, here's something fun to do. This is especially for some cool kids I know in Wisconsin. Have fun!

Carve a Pumpkin!

Another Scare!

Here's another one, same deal. It's going to be something scary. You are forewarned! (I had more self-control with this one!)

Strange but interesting. This is a car advertisement from Great Britain. When they finished filming the ad, the film editor noticed something moving along the side of the car, like a ghostly white mist. They found out that a person had been killed a year earlier in that exact same spot.

The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon. Watch the front end of the car as it clears the trees in the middle of the screen and you'll see the white mist crossing in front of the car then following it along the road....Spooky! Is it a ghost, or is it simply mist? You decide.

If you listen to the ad, you'll even hear the cameraman whispering in the background about it near the end of the commercial.


Now see it!

Nothing like seeing it coming...

This is about an email I got from my beloved uncle earlier this week. It touted itself to be a mind bender and had the following description.


READ BEFORE CLICKING ON THE LINK ABOVE
There are two identical pictures that will appear on the screen. Almost 8,000 people were tested to see if they could find the 3 differences in the two pictures and only 19 found all 3. See how observant you are. If you find all 3, you're one of very few people who are able to do this.

Now, I'm thinking to myself-- I've seen something like this before. It's going be some nice picture you stare at for awhile, and then it will suddenly change to something scary and screaming. This is a Halloween prank and I've fallen for it before. Knowing all this, I click on the link, and there's the picture that you're supposed to scrutinize to find the differences. And I'm looking at the picture, the whole time telling myself that something loud and scary is going to happen.

So something scary and loud does happen and I JUMP A MILE! I mean it really scared me and not just a little bit. I was really shook up. Then I was mad, really mad. How could I knowingly let myself to do that to myself? But, instead of being angry with me (not going to happen!), I instead wrote a very angry note to the uncle. Now you can click on it and see for yourself. Have yourself an early Halloween scare!

Tenacious D

Everyone has something that they are just a teeny- tiny bit embarrassed that they like so very, very much. My and I have several, but this is one of the biggest. TENACIOUS D! Jack Black and Kyle Gass are Tenacious D and they completely rock. Their CD is the one that's always in the car, but that the kids can never listen to...well, except for Wonderboy, which they have heard, only because while it isn't exactly clean, it's their only song that doesn't have one F-bomb after another.

Tenacious D once had a show on HBO, which was hilarious. Then there was the album and then Jack Black went and got famous. Bummer. I thought D was gone forever.

But now... a miracle! November 17th is the when their movie opens in theatres and November 14th the songtrack is being released. But even more amazing, these guys are going on tour! This is me with my fingers crossed that there's a trip to Chicago in my future! Long Live the D!

Project Runway Finale

So it's the end of Project Runway and Jeffrey is the big winner. During the commercial, right before they announced it, to myself I said, I really think Uli is the winner, but they'll pick Jeffrey just because they dig him so much. And even though I was right, I was still surprised. I really liked Uli's designs and that bikini she made was the complete bomb! Jeffrey's stuff was very-- well..him. Cool looking, but not really practical. Clothes you would wear nowhere. And two of his dresses were complete dogs, just awful. How do you win with two ugly pieces in the mix? Still, this little green stripey thing was his grand finale and I LOVE it.

As for other TV news, I promised a "Heroes" report to a certain frequent patron to the cafe. The word is, if you haven't liked the show up to now, you didn't miss anything this week. There. I've just given you the gift of an hour to do something else. Use it wisely.

All Fixed

First, the promised kitten pictures. I had to wake them up for these shots. The little guy was still sleeping here.

This is about halfway awake.

Cable guy got here around 11:30. He fixed everything up and now cable is good again. Hurray. The stupid dryer guy didn't get here until 2:45. But, the dryer works again as well. Double Hurray! In all the wait around time, I got a lot of little jobs that have been put off for too long done, so it was a day fairly well spent. Hope I don't have another like it for a long time!

On Hold

Stuck here at home today waiting for the guy from Stewart's to fix the dryer (no heat, useless appliance) and the cable guy to figure out a whole host of TV related problems. I scheduled them both today so I would only have to lose one day of work. But nobody likes days like this. Waiting, waiting, waiting... The cable guy could be here anytime from now until noon. The dryer guy anytime between noon and two. You want to bet it will closer to two than noon? Oh, I can guarantee that! But it will all be worth it not to have to go to the Laundromat to dry the clothes and having all the fuzziness and ghostiness off the TV. Maybe he can fix the OnDemand too! We haven't had that since Spring! Am I asking too much? Perhaps...

I've just attempted for the third time to get some new pictures of the kittens up, but Blogger is being a bit of a beast this morning, so you'll all have to just suffer without for a little while longer. I assure you that they are cuter than ever, bright eyed, cuddly and soft, with incredibly sharp teeth and quick, painful claws. They turned 8 weeks old over the weekend. 8 weeks... 8 weeks of them living in my bedroom. It's been an education to say the very least. They are extremely active and there is nothing they can't climb in the blink of an eye. The two of them wrestle constantly with each other, right over the top of whatever is around them, be it shoes, laundry or people, they just keep at it. Mama Cat joins in and all three of them run around at top speed in the middle of the night making a racket that's not to be slept through. It's really time for the whole thing to come to an end!

I'll post later today with an update on how the whole service day went. Maybe I can get some pics up then as well.

Nanci and Tom

Congratulations to Nanci and Tom! The wedding yesterday was beautiful. The weather was cold, but sunny and the trees were gorgeous. We all had a great time at the reception and stayed right to the very end. Best part-- the chocolate fountain, these should be mandatory at all events.

Bronze Award!!!!

I've only mentioned in passing, but since May, my troop has been going through all the steps to earn our Girl Scout Bronze Award. If you click on the link, you'll learn all about the highest award a junior girl scout can earn. We decided to perform a sing-a-long for all the other Girl Scouts in our service unit and produce a songbook to give out. We've been singing songs, practicing teaching, and typing songs all summer. We snuck the work in on the girls by doing fun stuff-- a camp out at camp, a backyard campout, a sleepover party, and then two (or was it three?) little work parties. Finally it was all done- The books were done, the t-shirts came in, the cellophane was all cut, and the song list was complete. Last night, at the French Creek Nature Center, it all came together. I'm so proud of the girls I can hardly write this. They were nervous, but they did it! They taught songs, and if they messed up, they just kept going and didn't turn into giggling little girls. They were awesome! We had a nice size crowd show up and everyone seemed very impressed. I could see, when it was all over, how proud the girls were of themselves. They loved it when people came up to tell them they did a good job. And they did, they really did.

It's Never Enough, Until You've Got All the Stuff *

A dear, dear friend of mine is getting married Saturday. This past weekend was her bachorlette party which had many blog worthy events, but as they say, what happens at the party, stays at the party. No, today I want to talk about shopping for a new dress for the wedding. I tried to go out a couple of weekends ago, but it was a bust. Nothing looked good. Just wasn't in the mood to shop. But yesterday I didn't go to work and made it my mission to find an outfit... or die trying.

I hit Macy's right at 10 AM. One quick turn around the store found a mannequin wearing the perfect dress. Ah Ha! I dig up a bored clerk who informs me if there's any left of that dress, they'd be over there, in clearance. Clearance!?! Yes! I felt the shopping gods smiling down on me. Was it there? Oh, yeah baby! There it was! Without a thought I'm in the dressing room and I was right, it's perfect. I've been in the store ten minutes and I'm already done.

But wait... What's this? Columbus Day Sale? Now Columbus Day is not the holiday it once was. Mostly it just confuses people. (Where's the mailman? Why is the bank closed?) Sure, I believe props should be given out to the most famous lost guy in history, but if the kids don't lose a day of school for it, then it's just not holiday that's getting much done! But stores will use any excuse for a sale-- Columbus Day, President's Day, Arbor Day. I guess that's Chris's final gift to us, here's the other half of the world and 20% shoes.

But I digress... The important thing is the sale and yeah, shoes were 20% off. So off I go with my bargain dress to find sale shoes. I'm walking around trying on shoes and holding up the dress, when it occurs to me that it would easier if I just put the dress back on. So I do. After a conference with the two clerks and all the old ladies in the shoe department, we all agree on a pair. Then the clerk says, "Now, you walk over to jewelry and pick out the earrings and a pin to go with that." So off I go in the dress and shoes to find the bling bling. Being on a bit of a shopping high at this point, I again got the whole department involved. A sweet woman named Ellen helped me find the brooch, which I took right out of the box and put on the dress. Another woman found the earrings, which I put on as well. Ellen seemed a bit shocked, "You mean, you haven't bought that dress yet?"

Back in the shoe department, where my street clothes were stowed, I got the approval of the crowd. They tried to get me to go pick up the nylons as well, but I had done enough damage for one day. I got back into my civis, signed up for a Macy's card and I'm out the door. I was home by 11:30. How's that for shopping?

* Line from "Shopping" by the Barenaked Ladies

1st Grade Pride

By request, Callie in 2002...

Ely Pride

For the first time since 1st grade, our girl has finally won the coveted Ely Pride Award. This not only involves your name on the big board, but a certificate, a pin and a bumper sticker! Whoo-Hoo! Congratulations, sweetheart!