No, not the aliens...the 80's! Well, the 80's fashions anyway...as I sit here typing wearing my jeans tucked into my knee high boots and ruffles down the front of my shirt :p
Everything AND the kitchen sink. Dan got my new sink installed yesterday...after a trip to Menards to buy the sink and the necessary plumbing...then a trip to Ace Hardware to get the necessary plumbing to replace what broke when he started taking the plumbing apart...then another trip to Ace Hardware to replace the necessary plumbing that he bought wrong on the previous trip! I love my new sink! :)
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays...although I hate being scared. I have many memories of Halloween so I figured this would be a good time to share them :)
When I was little we used to go trick or treating in the country. Mom would drive us around to all the neighbor's house and they gave us candy. Nowdays no one does that, only people who live in town have little ghosts and goblins knocking on their doors.
I remember the vinyl costumes we wore and the plastic masks. The costumes were always worn over our heavy winter coats so we looked two sizes bigger than we were. The masks had eye holes and a small hole for the mouth...so you could breathe and just big enough to stick the tip of your tongue through.
There were two houses in town that I always was slightly apprehensive to go to. One was the Dukes house...Mama D would dress up as a witch and scare the daylights out of me! She did the same thing to my kids years later. The other house was the home of my first grade teacher, Mrs. Lehman. She would always demand we do a trick before we could get a treat...I had no tricks!
In junior high I went with a bunch of my friends to a haunted house. Just so happens this particular haunted house was in the barn of the house at Marathon were Dan and I moved after we got married. The barn was gone by the time we moved there, but I still remember how scared I was to go through it. Lucky for me I had friends who were just as scared so we basically ran through!
Back in the day we would also go trick or treating for Unicef. Basically we went door to door begging for money...but it was for a good cause...or at least that is what we were told!
One year, I think Brian was probably almost 3, we couldn't take him out because we had a huge ice storm. I think I was more disappointed than Brian was.
All three of my kids wore a pumpkin costume that I made for their first Halloween. I made it for Brian when he was almost a year old. Becky wore it when she was 6 months old and poor Kayla was only 2 months old when she wore it...so with each kid the costume swallowed them up more and more :)
I remember walking down the main street of Marathon one year with some friends. We weren't doing anything or causing any trouble, but we happened to be in front of the bank. The banker's daughter lived across the street above the post office and she sat at her window all night watching for people who might do something to the bank. Apparently we looked guilty because she yelled at us to stay away from there.
I must say, my favorite Halloween memory doesn't even involve me. One year Brian and Becky and some friends went to the haunted house in Schaller. Brian was trying to impress a girl so he wasn't afraid at all...or so he thought. They came to a room and a man dressed in a gorilla suit jumped out with a running chain saw (with no chain on it of course) and Brian screamed like a girl and yelled "ahhhh...girl pants!" Girl pants was the word of choice when you are scared and can't get the word gorilla out :)
Halloween may be the devil's holiday, but I don't think anyone really thinks of it like that anymore. It is just a day of fun and black cats and ghosts and goblins. Kids are too lazy these days to cause any trouble and little ones in costumes begging for candy are adorable. BOO!
My children continue to amaze me. If this is too much bragging for you then feel free to stop reading here, because it is going to get crazy.
Some things to think about...
Why is a semi called an 18 wheeler? Cars aren't called 4 wheelers.
Why do we say someone is out for a Sunday drive if they are driving slowly?
Why do people who farm half the country say they are blessed? Why not just admit they are greedy?
Why is what people do in the bedroom, and who they do it with, anyone's business but theirs?
Why is everyone so intolerant of other country's religions?
Why do people who live in areas that get a lot of snow in the winter complain about it? If you don't like it move somewhere else.
Why are there two names for fall/autumn? None of the other seasons have two names.
Why does bacon taste so good?
Who ever came up with the idea of hotels?
Who first looked at a cow udder and wondered what would happen if you pulled on it?
Why are dogs and cats the only 4 legged animals that are domesticated?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why can girls have long hair but it is considered "hippie" for boys to do it?
Why do girls wear make-up and high heels and dresses and men can get by with sweats?
Why is it if a woman has many partners she is a bad person but if a man does it he is a stud?
Why do people give their children hard to pronounce and hard to spell names?
Why does the woman take the man's name when they get married?
Why does a picture of a heart look nothing like a real heart?
Why is the heart the only body part that means something else? You don't give someone a picture of an ear for Valentine's Day.
Why do people go on TV on those stupid court shows?
Why doesn't purple match red?
Why did someone decide to put 24 hours in a day?
Why were credit cards invented?
Why do some areas of the country have breakfast, lunch and dinner and others have breakfast, dinner and supper?
Why do kids at school have lunch but at home they have dinner?
Why is pink a girl color and blue a boy color?
Why do people have cell phones with them 24/7? Twenty years ago no one had one and we all got along fine.
Why isn't white gold called silver?
Why do some girls think they can run around half naked and then get mad when people notice?
Why is steak more expensive than hamburger? It all comes from the same cow.
Why does pop taste different in a can compared to a bottle?
Why do some people call it pop and some call it soda?
Why is it called soccer here but football in Britain?
Why do women have to shave their legs and armpits but men don't?
Why do people think the government shouldn't control health care but they should control whether or not a woman can terminate her pregnancy?
Why are the rich people Republican and the poor people Democratic?
Why do women think they have to have big boobs, blonde hair and no excess weight to be attractive?
Why are there so many reality shows about losing weight? What is wrong with being overweight?
Why do people abuse their children?
Why are they called lady bugs instead of man bugs?
Why are you still reading this?
Our internet is ridiculous! In order to get high speed we have to have a satellite dish, because apparently we live in the middle of nowhere. But the satellite limits everyone who uses it to a "Fair Usage Policy" which means that you can only use up to 80% of your plan before they basically shut you off. So with Brian home and using Youtube a lot our usage goes up and then we have no internet at all in the evening. It is on a 30 day rolling basis, so we pretty much have to not use it at all for 15 days or more so we can get it back to normal. It really, really is a pain in the butt!
Today I wore my favorite black skirt to work. I went to the bathroom, did my business and zipped up my skirt...or should I say tried to zip my skirt. The zipper broke! Here I am, in the bathroom with a skirt that won't zip...what to do? Well, since I work with mostly men and the women were all gone for the day I knew no one would have a safety pin or a needle and thread. So I zipped it as far as it would go and held the rest of it together under my sweater. Made it to my desk, grabbed the stapler and headed back to the bathroom for some temporary repair :) Lucky for me I only had an hour of work left so it held for that long...and now I have an excuse to go shopping :)
Not a lot has been happening lately, but here is what has been.