Pecans Anyone?

One beautiful North Carolina day, Mom, Beepa, the doggies, and myself all went for a walk. While gathering pine cones, we came across a pecan tree. Something I've never seen before. And of course, being us, we explored. We came across every stage a lil' pecan has to go through to be edible!

From growing in their lil' pods:

To breaking free!
And showing their shells :-)

Then folks, like us, come along and break open the shell. Tada!

Pecans!! Yum! Just another perk of living in the south! Can't wait til some of my Mom's pecan pie at Thanksgiving!

What or Treat?

Trunk or Treating...has anyone else ever heard of this? I never did, until moving down here. I hope we still get some trick-or-treaters! What ever happened to good ol' put your feet to the pavement and knocking on the doors of perfect strangers around your neighborhood? hehe

Sad News

Yesterday, Toby (1) was put to sleep, he was a part of our family for 13 years. I don't really know what else to say. But he will be dearly missed, and I'm thankful that he isn't sick anymore. Love him very much, and I know he is in a better place now.

Halloween Funny

A guy goes into a costume shop. He says, "I'm going to a costume party and I want to go as Adam."

The girl brings out a fig leaf.

He says, "Not big enough."

She brings out a bigger one.

He says, "Still not big enough."

She brings out a huge fig leaf.

He says, "Still not big enough."

She says, "Listen, Ace, why don't you just throw it over your shoulder and go as a gasoline pump?"

*******************

The Halloween Costume

There's this man with a bald head and a wooden leg who gets invited to a fancy dress party. He doesn't know what costume to wear to hide his head and his leg so he writes to a fancy dress company to explain the problem.

A few days later he receives a parcel with a note. "Dear Sir, please find enclosed a pirates outfit. The spotted handkerchief will cover your bald head and with your wooden leg you will be just right as a pirate.

"The man thinks this is terrible because they have just emphasized his wooden leg and so he writes a really rude letter of complaint.

A week passes and he receives another parcel and a note which says "Dear Sir, sorry about before, please find enclosed a monks habit. The long robe will cover your wooden leg and with your bald head you will really look the part."

Now the man is really annoyed since they have gone from emphasizing his wooden leg to emphasizing his bald head and he writes the company a REALLY rude letter of complaint.

The next day he receives a small parcel and a note which reads "Dear Sir, please find enclosed a jar of caramel. Pour the jar of caramel over your bald head, stick your wooden leg up your behind and go as a candied apple!"

Holy Leaf!

While out on a walk, I came across a leaf that is almost the size of Toby!

I know there is a longer growing season here, but my goodness!!

Feeling More Like Home

While driving down the road to go shopping the other day, Mike and I took the time to point out all the scenery to each other. North Carolina is beautiful! I wish I had brought my camera (not something I would of thought of when just going to the grocery store). The "girls" were out when we left, a sight that automatically makes me feel warm inside (there is a farm down the road from us...the cows were out, or what Cortney called them when she was little...moo-cows, which I still call them once in awhile). I still have some memories of living on the dairy farm when I was very little. Something most people won't say, yes, the smell of cow manure makes me feel at home, hehe.

As we traveled along the road, it gets much more country, the houses are sparse, and there is just open fields and trees everywhere. The trees are all starting to change, we constantly pointed out to each other the vibrant colors starting to peak through the leaves. Not to long afterwards we came across thousands of cosmos, in very bright colors of white, pink and purple, just lining the fields along the road. Cosmos brought back memories of when I worked at the greenhouse, oh, how those plagued my life then, hehe.

North Carolina feels much more like home now, with all the changing leaves. Some days it looks just like New Hampshire, and I have to remind myself of where I am. In about four months, we will of been here a year, hard to believe. Sometimes I hate it here, some days I love it. One thing is for sure, it is starting to grow on me.

Halloween Past

I don't remember when it came up, or even how, but the topic of Halloween's in the past did come up. And the year that my mother dressed up as the "psycho nurse" with her "skull saw" was brought up. I knew I had a picture of it, and I found it!! That would be my mother, in all her Halloween glory! Just one of many of her Halloween costumes, she tried to think up new ones every year.

Sadly, after many years of scary innocent children together, this year I think we will be apart. But at least we can see who has the most trick-or-treaters and decide what we want to do next year together!

My mom has always been into Halloween, as far back as I can remember. When we were younger, dad and the dog always took us girls trick or treating, and mom would stay home to scare and hand out candy. As I got older, and stopped trick or treating, I became mommy's lil scare helper. I usually played "safety". Thinking up different themes to decorate the yard every year. My best friend Amanda even starting coming every year, and it became a tradition. Mom scared, Amanda and I would help scare, but mainly were in charge if dispersing the candy.

(Part of Mom, Toby, and part of Amanda.)

For a couple years we had the "pick a box". You had two boxes, with a hole in the top, and the trick or treater had to pick a box, and put their hand in to feel what was inside....one box had a bowl of candy, the other usually had oily spaghetti or peeled grapes....not pleasant, especially when you weren't expecting it, and it was dark and scary, hehe. Freaked alot of kids out! Most little children would run away and cry, and some were even too terrified to come up the driveway...with all the scary moaning and music pouring out of the speakers, and scarily lit and decorated yard, then there were the "live props" aka, Mom and Mike. Not knowing if they were stuffed or real, and lurking in the shadows. There were some kids I had to go and meet at the end of the driveway so they could have their candy.

I will never forget the year we took my car, parked it on the lawn, and surrounded it with yellow police tape...had a "body" hanging out the open car door, and my grandfathers rotating red firefighter light on top of the car. That was alot of fun.

Mike is bummed this year we won't be doing anything like that. Hopefully we will get alot of trick or treaters in our neighborhood, and next year we can coax my mom down, and her and Mike can scare the wits out of some kids! My mom only thinks she is gonna get a few kids at her place, so we will see. I know no matter what, Mike wants to do it big next year. This year will be spent handing out candy while watching scary Halloween movies.

One positive about living down south and trick or treating, versus trick or treating up north, when I have kids, I won't have to make their Halloween costumes extra big to fit their winter coats underneath, cuz it was so cold, hehe!! It always disfigured our "scary" costumes, when we looked all puffy, so we wouldn't freeze! :-)

(Old picture of Kathy and I in our Halloween costumes, I think Kathy was an owl, and I was a fairy princess.)

Only a couple more weeks til Halloween!!

Bull Durham

Something occurred to me the other day while watching tv. The local news was talking about the movie Bull Durham, and that they will be shooting a part 2. I, unlike most of the population, have never seen the movie Bull Durham. I was intrigued, I've of course heard about it, but for some reason or another, I never watched it before. Considering that I now live right down the road from Durham Bulls stadium, it hit me, I should really watch that movie.
Today while shopping, I happened upon one of those DVD bins in the store, you know, where you have to dig through all the old, sometimes not so good movies, and once in awhile you will find a treasure. Really I was looking for some hokey scary movie for Mike and I to watch on Halloween. Well, within 2 seconds, I pulled out, what else, the movie Bull Durham. It looked to be the last one. So I had to have it! I am proud to say, that tonight, I finally watched the movie. Now I know what everyone is talking about! It was good, and even more weird, was while I was watching it, I recognized alot of the places, and I knew what they were talking about in the movie, because I live there! It was very exciting, hehe. Now I can't wait to see part II, according to the news, I have a couple years to wait!

Duke Gardens

Well, today we (Mike, Mary and I) went to Duke Gardens (my second time there, their first). Very pretty, they had all the fall mums planted and there were new blooms everywhere you turned. While we were there, they were finishing up three different weddings, popular time of the year to get married! And of course, I took lots of photos.

The bamboo had Mike in a headlock.

"Man of Muscles" :-)

Tree Hugger, hehe
The leaves are slowly starting to change.
Some of the mums.

A little late, but it still counts.

The day of our anniversary Mike and I didn't see much of each other, we will celebrate Sunday. But this is the very cute cake that Mary (my mother-in-law) got for us.

And the 3 roses (for 3 years) Mike got for me :-) Same color roses I had in my bridal bouquet!

The Day I Became Mrs. A.

Like most brides, I will never forget my wedding day. Three years ago today Mike and I were married! Despite the leftovers of Hurricane Katrina showing up at our wedding, the day was perfect. The day we planned for, for a year came quick. Woke up early that morning (didn't sleep much anyways) showered and put on my face mask (via Michele's instructions) and watched my mom put the final touches on the bouquets and put together the boutonnieres. Then we loaded up the vehicles, dresses, mums and all, and headed up to Castle in the Clouds. Once we arrived we were able to take our time...had the whole place to ourselves. Aunt Elaine did hair, and Michele did my nails and make-up, while we all dillydallied and made up the reception tables.

Not too long after that, everything seemed like a blur. I do remember waiting at the top of the stairs, all done up and dressed in my gown, waiting to get the go ahead to get into the trolley to make our decent up the mountain. Then my dad came up the stairs, I will never forget his face. I quickly had to look at the floor, and told him not to look at me anymore, because he was making me tear up, and I didn't want to ruin my make-up yet, hehe.

Next thing I knew, we were whooshed onto the trolley...and heading up the mountain, everyone was raving about the rainbow. I was busy trying to make sure that I didn't slide off the seat...lacquered wood, and a smooth wedding gown, don't mix well.

I have to thank all our guests for sticking it out, it was chilly that day, and drizzling (unlike the year before when we visited and finalized the date) but I was determined that we would get married out in the garden.

I never had a twitter of doubt in my mind of what I was doing. Marrying Michael was what I was meant to do. My parents both walked me down the "aisle" and all I remember after that is Mike's face. I honestly don't remember our vows, what others said was a long ceremony, seemed to go quickly. I was oblivious to what else was going on, I never even noticed them put the chair underneath my dress! (I didn't know til I saw photos after, and asked what was wrong with my dress?? hehe)

Before I knew it, we were hitched. After congrats and more pictures, we headed back down the mountain on the trolley, all aglow :-) Had a great reception...

And I would do it all over again. Here's to 3 years...and counting!

Weekend At My Parents

Well, we spent this past weekend up at my parents house to visit with them, and all the other house guests. Gramma and Grampa were there, on their way back from NH to AZ. Aunt Dot and Uncle Bob came to visit from NY. After hellos, hugs, and a little breakfast, we all played "bones".

We all love Gramma Pat, but all those close to her know how she has taught us how to be a good loser! hehehe

(A thank you to Aunt Dot, and Uncle Bob, for our house-warming gift! They will be put to good use!)

Abby was dancing for Toby...she's such a tease.

Michael demonstrating how to properly eat a brownie.

There was a lot of laughing!

Dad and Uncle Bob...deep in "man talk"

Grampa Mac and Abby!

What weekend (close to Halloween) would be complete without some pumpkin painting??

Can you tell which one's are different?? A couple of the pumpkins got 2 faces.
One of three pumpkins Mike painted...looks like an ant from "A Bug's Life".

These would be 5 of the 7 I painted. After painting my large pumpkin, I was then told I needed to paint more! Gramma Pat was a task-master and had me paint little ones for everyone!

Then we had to say goodbye...So glad we got to see everyone though, and they made the long trip out to see us...love and miss you all!!

An added note for my grandparents...A pile of Word Seeks, handed-down Christmas ornaments, and an After-Bite stick mean more to me then you can know!!

Heavier Luggage

Sometimes I get a little grief about why my packing may take so long at times. Really I am not at fault. I turned around for literally two seconds to grab Michael a pair of socks to throw in the suitcase, and turn back around only to see Lily hiding where the socks were about to be placed. She wouldn't get out, so I strapped her in for the ride...if you are going to be a stow-way, you need to be properly strapped in. She really had no problem with it, hehe.

Not too long afterwards, Katie decided she wanted in too.
Then they decided they wanted to switch places.
Oye, crazy little kitties they are!

"Fat" Lola

Very fun day today. My grandparents made it over to our house, and after seeing our place, we (Mom, Gramma, Grampa, and myself) all went down to see Cortney and have lunch.

We finally met Lil Miss Lola (Cortney's kitty)!! She wasn't very cooperative with staying still long enough to get a picture. She was too busy trying to sniff and get petted. But I thought she was adorable, she's a chubby little sweetheart, and so soft! Congratulations to Cortney. Funny thing was, she found her on craigslist.com...same place that I found Toby.

Like most kitties, she likes getting her bum petted, hehe.

He Remembered

Toby had to make his second visit to the vet yesterday, his first visit was an emergency, and we had only had him a few days. This time was so he could finish his vaccines and to make sure everything was okay in his tummy (He was so sick the last visit...he had a bladder infection, stomach parasites, hookworms, was anemic and was dehydrated).

After weighing him and finding out he had gained 7 lbs (Which was great!! He was only 25 lbs. last time, and he was Very underweight) we went right into one of the exam rooms and he was Mr. happy-go-lucky and bouncing around the place. All until one of the techs came into the exam room. It was the same woman that we saw his first visit. He was alright...until he saw her with the thermometer in her hand, and he immediately "glued" his butt to the floor. I felt bad, but I couldn't help but laugh, I wasn't sure if he remembered, til that very moment. He reluctantly let us take his temperature. Then a minute later he saw the "fecal loop" and he tried to run away! I never saw it before (the last visit, they did that procedure in the other room) but he sure as hell remembered it. Poor pup...he was a lil trooper, and got through it just fine (after we caught him, hehe). After all that, he got his shot, and never even flinched.

And this time he didn't "mark his territory" in the vet's office...Go Toby!! hehe

More Visitors

Yesterday my grandparents made it safe and sound to my parents house. So excited they made it. Today will be spent doing a little extra cleaning and later taking Toby to the vet. Because tomorrow they will arrive here!! After a tour of our house, we will then zip on down to Cort's place to have lunch with her and see her apartment and her new kitty. At least that's the plan for now. Then Cortney and I will spend the weekend at Mom and Dad's and get to also spend time with Aunt Dot and Uncle Bob. Who will travel all the way from NY and arrive at Beepa's sometime tomorrow. All sorts of family showing up, we feel so loved!

*****

So far Fall in North Carolina has been pretty mild. The leaves are starting to slowly change, and the air is getting cooler. I love it, makes me feel more at home. It's nice to wear long pants again!

*****

On another note, my mother would be proud of me. I just finished my paperwork to register to vote. Something she has always tried to instill in us was a pride that comes with voting, it's a privilege. I have voted every time since I turned 18. And I will try and continue to do so.