Pumpkin Pi and Piggies

It's End Hunger Week in our county, and our schools are all participating in raising awareness of the problem. The grade levels are collecting canned goods, and on Friday there will be a dance for each grade level; admission is 2 cans of food.

The teachers have gotten in on the action, too; they had a contest, by department level, carving pumpkins. The jacks are all on display in the cafeteria and the students vote at lunchtime for their favorites by tossing coins or dollars in containers nearby. What's your favorite?

This one is compliments of the Art teacher and his helpers. Nice job...

This one is kind of creepy. Not sure who's responsible for this one.

Love the Spidey Jack!

I have no idea what this one is supposed to be. Someone told me it was unfinished. Maybe so.

Ooh, scary!

See the formulas on the pumpkin? Compliments of the Math department. Pumpkin Pi, get it?

This one looks like some of our students. LOL!

And now for my own personal favorite...by the Home Ec teacher and one of the Science teachers:
Oh, no, it's the Piggy Flu! Complete with hypodermic needle.

Now where's my wallet? Gotta go vote for the swine!

Autumn Leaves and Sunshine...Unbeatable!

Just look at the beauty I see on my way to the grocery store:




So much orange...the red trees have already shed their leaves and the gold has yet to fully appear.

Have I said lately how much I love fall? I do.

The Eagle Has Landed!

Congratulations to my JJ! Thursday night he passed his Eagle Scout Board of Review and is now an Eagle Scout! Only 3% of all Boy Scouts earn the Eagle rank. It's quite an achievement!

This is JJ with the toy box he and the other boys built for the shelter.

We are so proud! Well done.

It's Raining, Man...(With Apologies to The Weather Girls)

It has been raining here for 3 straight days. And cold. More to come tomorrow, and maybe Monday. Ick.

My poor Nicky was camping with the Boy Scouts last night at our District Camporee. Now Boy Scouts are known for camping in the rain, wind, snow, etc. The District cancelled the Camporee this morning. Go home, dry out, warm up.

His gear was SOAKED. Dripping all over the back of the car. Completely saturated. Again I say, ick.

I sent him inside to change clothes and warm up, while I got the fun part...unloading the car. I laid the tent and tarp out in the garage to begin drying out.

Then came the sleeping bag. I don't know how he would have slept in it tonight.

I think we're in for the night. Maybe for the rest of the weekend.

Welcome Home, Soldier!

Our Boy Scout troop did something very cool today. One of our committee members has been in Iraq with the Air Force for 4 months and his unit, among others, came back home today. Since we have the day off from school (some teacher conference), we decided to greet the troops at the airport upon their arrival. It's one of the coolest things I've participated in.

Here they are coming down from the gate. The troops seemed so appreciative to see us there and most all of them stood in line to shake all the boys' hands.

There were so many! Over 100.


This is our troop members that attended with our own soldier on the left.

Welcome home, gentlemen and ladies. Thanks for serving our country!

Halloween Has Arrived at Our House!

I finally got the rest of the Halloween decorations out. I have 4 boxes full and don't put out nearly that much, so I guess it's time to pare down a bit.

Cathymac at Magical Holiday Home, a very fun site I frequent, is hosting a Fall Tour of Homes on her blog, Haunted Hamlet.

Check out her blog and all the fabulous homes decorated for the fall!

Here's what greets you at our driveway:

It's my friendly pumpkin sign and scarecrow garden flag. If you look closely you can see the raindrops...we are having quite the rain today! We haven't been able to find out ghost and tombstone signs this year. They've vanished. Hopefully we'll find them with the Christmas decorations!

The front door...love my light-up pumpkin! It looks very festive tonight in the dark rain. I've posted the corner picture already, but I love it, so I'm posting it again.

The wreath in the window is one I made years ago of yarn wrapped around a wire coat hanger. I wish I still had the pattern. There are little Halloween signs glued on.

Inside the front door is this cute little witch. (I know, right next to the Christmas quilt!)

The dining room has lots of little things, like the round table that used to belong to my parents.

The leaf dish I picked up at AC Moore this year, in 3 different colors. The ceramic pumpkin came from CVS last year. I love the spider candle holder! (There are 3 of these as well.) The lamp, trinket box, and candle in the back were all my mom's, and the candy dish was a gift from her. Those are out all the time.

I love the tablecloth on our table, but it's a tad small. I love the pumpkins, though. The centerpiece is just a decorative container with faux pumpkins, leaves, fruit, etc.


The sideboard has a cute Hallmark light-up train set, a couple of Halloween Beanie Babies, another spider tealight, a cute scarecrow from WalMart, and a pumpkin tray with real gourds.

There is no overhead lighting in the dining room, as it was originally intended to be a living room, so we have lots of lamps! Here's one of the floor lamps...my Longaberger basket from last year, a Beanie ghost, a crocheted pumpkin from a craft show, and a Target tealight.

Our other floor lamp has yet another Beanie Baby, another of the leaf dishes, and a cute black pail with a jack o'lantern face from the Target Dollar Spot. (We are ready for flu season with the box of Kleenex!)

This antique magazine rack came from my mother-in-law. There is a stuffed pumpkin below, and on top is an old light-up jack o'lantern that was mine when I was little. The plug is long gone, but I still put it out every year.

Doesn't look so bad for 30-something, does it? (Ahem, maybe 40-something!)


The kitchen table has some nice fall placemats, courtesy of AC Moore, and my trifle bowl with mini pumpkins and gourds. Simple, yet festive.

Our kitchen island has a cute scarecrow basket I bought last year--I think another AC Moore purchase. The very cool green pumpkin Nicky picked out at the pumpkin patch over the weekend. And of course I must have my Yankee Candle Frosted Pumpkin! Wish you could smell it now...yum!

On to the living room...one of the end tables has the last of the 3 leaf dishes and another Target tealight.

The other end table has the last of the 3 spider tealights and my very fun Mr. Potato Head I bought last year. It has a ghost costume, too, but then you can't see his face!

The top of the TV holds 2 ghost Beanie Babies, next to my favorite stained glass candle holders. My son was watching Scrubs when I snapped this picture, so that's Dr. Cox you see on TV.

Here's part of the shelf that runs the entire length of one wall...this has been up since September. Lots of fall flowers and a leaf runner. This should last through Thanksgiving.

On the fireplace is my pumpkin bear from Build-a-Bear and a dried gourd decorated as a jack o'lantern. I hosted a Bunko party about 10 years ago and this was the big Bunko prize...I won!

I hope you enjoyed my decorations. We like 'em. :)

Happy Fall and Happy Halloween!

Happy Columbus Day!

Thank you, Christopher Columbus!

God bless America!

Punkin Pickin' and Mums Galore

Nicky and I went out today to buy some pumpkins and mums for the front door today. There are many places around here to buy pumpkins, but we went to a pumpkin "patch" about 10 miles from our house.

They had a wide assortment of pumpkins and gourds, including some in very unusual colors.

Is that a blue/green pumpkin????? Yep...Nicky bought one! Among others...

The display was very cute.

Their mums were too expensive, so we stopped at a roadside stand near our school where we always buy our mums. 3 for $12! Can't be beat!

Here's the front corner of our front door area:

Happy Fall, y'all!