Last minute carving…

We didn’t get around to carving our pumpkin until about an hour before trick-or-treating began. I cut the top and Jake went to grab it out. Upon seeing all of the stringy part of the inside of the pumpkin, he exclaimed, “Mom, look! There’s CHEESE in there!” Melted cheese-filled pumpkin. Interesting concept. 😉

Here’s the finished product:

And the costumes (fairy princess, Bob the Builder, and Dopey from Snow White):

Happy Halloween!

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Goodbye, Pufferoni…

This is our family dog, Puff. She died today. She’s had various illnesses over the years, some that were healed and others that were bearable, but the healing and the bearing with ended today.

I can never remember if she just turned 16 or just turned 17. We got her the weekend I started dating Bald Man. That was my big pickup line. “Hey, we got a new dog. Want to come see her?” Wink, wink.

Puff was only the second of two pets that we ever had as a family. Well, if you don’t count the one time my sister killed the six goldfish. Anyway, she wasn’t the dog we kids were hoping for. We had visions of a bigger dog (she only weighed 12 lbs. at her heaviest), one with a big “Woof!” (she had a yippy bark), one that would scare anyone around who tried to mess with us (she was so fierce, can’t you tell?), and one that we would name something manly, like Duke (she came with the name Puff). She wasn’t the dog we hoped for, but she was free and needed a home.

She ended up being a great dog, if you can put the yipping aside. She didn’t require a ton of attention, was content to just sit at your feet and keep them warm. She tolerated all of my kids wanting to pet her, even in her old age. She tormented my dad by always being underfeet during mealtime. He constantly tried to get her to “Go lie down!” I think they secretly enjoyed their annoyances of each other. She was a good companion to him while he was home and the rest of us were off doing our things. She was a great snuggler.

She became mostly my sister’s dog these last few years, but I think we’ll all miss her. She’s been a part of our family for so long now, it’s going to be hard to get used to not seeing her. It’s going to be hard to explain to the kids where Puff is every time we go to Titi’s (grandma’s) house. I’m not looking forward to that.

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Weekend Photos

I was off to Chicago last weekend with my friend and my sister. It was a quick trip, but we had a fun time. I’ve tried to narrow down the photos so as not to overwhelm you! Here are my Project 365 photos, with a few for each day. I’ll share more Chicago pictures with you later.

For Friday, October 27th:

Can you see the top of the Sears Tower there in that photo? No? Yeah, me neither. It was a pretty gray and icky day when we drove into Chicago. The clouds were so low that you couldn’t see the top of the tower.

My sister ridiculed me non-stop for taking this photo. I happen to like it. It’s my boot as I’m standing on the platform for the “L” in Chicago. We were making our way downtown to watch a show at The Second City. More on that show to come later. That’s all.

For Saturday, October 28th:

Downtown. The second day was much prettier.

The underside of the L.

The bean in Chicago. Pretty fun, if odd, work of art. Yes, it’s what it looks like, a mirrored bean-shaped sculpture. Here’s a post about the bean that I found interesting.

A few young drummers on Michigan Avenue. They were fantastic. I’m still kicking myself for forgetting that my borrowed digital had a camcorder feature! I would have loved to share their talent with you. I was impressed.

Sunday, October 29th:

My Crocprint in the sand. Beach at Lake Michigan, Evanston, IL.

Lake Michigan

Looking up into a tree.

End of the road for me.

That’s the end of my weekend photos. Thanks for bearing with me. I’ll share some others later.

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Bloomin’ October

Here’s my photo for today: A peach rose blooming in our flower bed out back. It’s nice to be able to smell the roses as you pass them for the garbage bin.

I’m off to the Windy City for the weekend. I’m going to try to get a photo out each day, depending on my access. No fear, though, if I don’t. I’m sure I’ll have PLENTY to share when I get back. I’ll try not to bore you too badly.

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Bloomin’ October

Here’s my photo for today: A peach rose blooming in our flower bed out back. It’s nice to be able to smell the roses as you pass them for the garbage bin.

I’m off to the Windy City for the weekend. I’m going to try to get a photo out each day, depending on my access. No fear, though, if I don’t. I’m sure I’ll have PLENTY to share when I get back. I’ll try not to bore you too badly.

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Happy 3rd, little prince…

Yep, my little guy is now 3 years old. He was so excited all day, but he wasn’t sure how to respond when everyone kept telling him, “Happy Birthday.” At one point, he just resorted to telling people “Happy Birthday” back. Too cute.

Life is so different now from when he was born. We were just beginning our journey of being parents of more than one child. Now we daily juggle three kids. Before him, we’d only been parents to a girl. Now we girls are outnumbered in the house 2 to 3. We were preparing to mourn a loss when he was born. Now we’re trying to enjoy all of the simple, joyful moments.

Life is good with Jake. He is a challenge to raise, but aren’t they all? I love my little man, and am so proud to be his mommy.

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Guess what I did tonight that wasn’t fun….

…I jogged a 5K (3.2 miles). No, it wasn’t fun. I don’t like to run, but I’m soooo proud of myself for finishing. Yes! I did the whole thing. I ran an 8K (about 5 miles) YEARS ago, and had only tried 2 times since then to run at all. Both of those times occurred within the last few weeks, and both of those attempts ceased to continue past the 1 mile mark. Didn’t think there was any way I was going to finish it, jogging, the whole way tonight. But there you go.

Now, when I say jogging, believe me that I’m not being modest about my speed. I was passed by walkers. Granted, they were fast walkers doing that crazy speed walking stuff, but walkers none the less. Oh well. Did I mention I finished? 😉

I like jogging with Bald Man because he sticks with me. He could easily run it in about half the time as I can, but he stays with me to cheer me on. Isn’t he great? Plus, he keeps me laughing with his observations. His favorite of the night, I think, was that NO ONE looks good in runners’ leggins. No one. You heard it here first. 😀

Here’s my photographic play-by-play of the night:

There’s the timer on my shoe so we’ll have a permanent record of just how not fast I was going. However, I do think I was going less not fast this time than I was the last time I ran jogged this race about 4 years ago. And now I have to write another sentence or two here because the stupid formatting of these pictures is driving me nuts, and I can’t figure out how else to fix it. Thanks for humoring me. 😉

It was a beautiful night to be out. This is the sun setting over the Great Miami River as we’re starting our run. Though there were flurries teasing us yesterday, it was really not too cold out for the jog. Fun. And, yes, I was carrying the camera during the whole run. It did help make the whole thing a bit more interesting knowing that I would share it with all of you! Are you enjoying the run so far?
Yeah, I know you’re supposed to throw the water cups on the ground. It’s a whole race thing. I know they’re going to clean it all up, but you would not believe how hard it was for me to do that!

This is just the underside of an overpass. Not something that I often see. Just thought it was interesting.

And now I write a bit more so that I can get the next photo to go where I want it to. I should wake up my technical assistant. But he has to get up early. And I love him. So I’ll let him sleep.

And here we are, at the end. Do you like the red contacts Bald Man wore to look scary for the Ghosts and Goblins race? Just kidding, it’s just his usual blue-eyed red eye. Not even the on-board red-eye fixer would fix it.

But, if you’ve made it all the way to the end, then you get the fun bit here. Know what pushed me that last .7 miles when I REALLY wanted to just die!?! The fact that I was reporting everything back to you, my readers. I knew I would just HATE to have to say that I made it 2.5 miles, but couldn’t finish out the last of it. So, thanks for reading and pushing me to succeed. I appreciate it!

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