I carved a pumpkin, but it didn't win me a prize! (Of course, I started carving the pumpkin at 9:00 pm, after getting in from Scouts and making pasta salad for a pot luck, etc. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but it was pretty cute!) The dark picture shows it pretty well, but is just a bit fuzzy. The one in the light shows a bit more detail! I also had some help taking pictures from Lucy.

Our "Indian Summer" is back - temps are in the mid-to-upper 70's with lots of sunshine. We had a wind on Thursday that blew most of the colored leaves off, so we aren't as pretty as we were! Ralph mowed our lawn yesterday, so I don;t have to rake leaves now, but there are plenty left on our trees to rake later. Yesterday, Ralph called me out to look at my fountain - I had a frog! He is a gorgeous rust color! Poor thing - it is going to get cold really fast around here!

I finished up a few more snowflakes this week too - and got them blocked yesterday.

I love my digital camera! I took AJ and Dallas out to the Pumpkin Patch last night, and they ran around in the corn maze and the haunted house for a while. While they were running around, I took some pictures. I am amazed at the pictures I got from that camera! There were flood lights set up all around, so you could see where you were walking, but there wasn't anything out in the fields. The camera had a special setting, so I tried it out, and got better pictures than I thought I would get! The moon was just gorgeous - thins wisps of clouds, and almost full!

The boys LOVED the haunted house. AJ said Dallas was scared the whole time, and Dallas said that was because AJ went first, so they were picking on him all the time, since he was always last! They did a great job in setting things up for the house. Dallas is going out tonight with his parents, and is all ready to "scare" them some more, since he know knows what is is there.


I went shopping for a new party dress last week - and told Mom I would post a couple of pictures of it!

I finished it! Here is my beaded dragon - not too bad, for the first time working with beads like this. He is quite cute!

Is winter over? It was about 85 today - warm and sunny! The rains of last week are just memories now. I know they will be back, but this is a beautiful interlude.

I made it to the Bank's 25th anniversary party this weekend - Ralph stayed home with a stomach bug he picked up somewhere. It was a good party - lots of food, drink and music. The people were great - about 20 came up from our Roseville office as well. I took a picture of the cake - which was made to look like the original branch on Placer Street.

Whoopee! They canceled the evening at the pumpkin patch! AJ and I were supposed to be out helping the Troop get set up and run the entrance to the corn maze, but it rained all day here. I just checked, and the paper reports almost 2 inches in most of Redding yesterday. Everything is drenched, and the creek close to the house was about over its banks last night when I came home from work, so I knew that sitting out in a field in the rain was not going to be fun. It is a warm storm, so we weren't going to freeze out there, we were just going to be wet - very wet and muddy! Of course, I baked brownies last night for the bake sale, and now will not be out there until Sunday, so really should make fresh brownies to take out for sale then, but that is a good trade off! I'll eat the brownies, if it means I don't have to sit in the rain! (I could take the brownies out today and help the troop get set up and everything, but if I show up, they might expect me to work, and I really have other plans! (yes, I feel guilty - I should be working out there, but - I'm not, and so there! I hate my conscience sometimes - nag, nag, nag!)

AJ is supposed to have a classmate come over today to work on a "major" project for Ethics. Evidently, they have to design a Greek God, complete with powers, genealogy, living quarters, etc. That is his excuse for not going out to the pumpkin patch to work. Since I really don't want to go out, I am buying this, but they had better get some work done! Tonight is the 25th anniversary party for the bank, and AJ is babysitting for me. There is also a high school reunion for Ralph tonight, and I am trying to get him to go to that. He can see the people I work with anytime!

Time has passed quickly again! Last week was almost impossible - I think I had something going on every night last week - Scouts, stuffing bags for Think Pink (which is today - wear pink!) nail appointment, etc. I have started on snowflakes for Christmas, along with some mini-angels. Doilies will be on the back burner for a while, I think. I have about 50 snowflakes to make between now and Christmas!

Well, it is finished - I'm not happy, but it is finished! The green ran into the flower, and the color match didn't stay quite right. But, it is done!

I finished a new doily last night, and it is in drying right now. I am not a happy camper. I had it done except for about half a row, and the dogs came rip-roaring through like a herd of turtles. Jasper came over to see what I was doing, and when she turned, she knocked over my glass of wine - all over me, with splashes on the doily. I figured - no big deal, I'll just wash it out. No deal. It stained the doily. So......I went ahead and finished it, and then...it wouldn't iron out nicely. The center is slightly larger than the outside. So...I spritzed it with water and pinned it out. Except....it is large than the board I have for pinning my snowflakes. I then took some bleach and touched up the areas that were stained. I pinned most of it out last night, and then this morning, I turned it 90 degrees and pinned the other half out and starched it. While I was doing that, I noticed that the wine stains were gone, but....the bleach ran, and "touched up" more than just the wine stains. One area of the green rows is now white as well. So....I got out my food coloring, and a paint brush, and I painted that sucker! The color match is pretty good, but it is noticeable, if you look. This will definitely be a doily that I don't give away! I will get pictures up as soon as it dries, and you tell me if you can see my problem areas!

I won all three bids I had up on e-bay for Alli's Pokemon books. I have 15 books coming! Since most of hers are now "well loved", not to mention shredded, they will be a welcome addition for Christmas! Since that is about all she likes, that will be about all she gets for Christmas - maybe with a few clothes thrown in. I usually make something for the kids, too, but I don't know what this year. Last year it was blankets. Maybe I will get some light sweat shirts and embroider them for her. She doesn't care what she has on, but other people like them!

Fall is definitely here! I need to take a picture of our neighbor's tree. It is gorgeous! It is bright yellow. Our sycamore's leaves just turn brown and fall off. Lots and lots of them fall off. For months, lots and lots of them fall off. We usually mulch the leaves into the garden area. Walking around the subdivision, you can see so many trees with autumn leaves! I think Koori and I need to take a walk today, along with the camera!

I made one more addition for the bathroom. I purchased an expensive (for me!) lotion dispenser for my hand soap, and it doesn't work. I assume it is because the soap is a lot thicker than lotion! I bought a soap dispenser today (it foams the soap) and I crocheted a cover for it using some new Christmas yarn that is red and gold. It turned out pretty good - the color could be a bit more rust, but it works!

AJ is at Camp Lassen this weekend with the Order of the Arrow for their Fall Fellowship. I took him down on Friday night, and I was glad I had on a jacket! I don't know what the elevation is for Camp Lassen, but it is about 20 minutes drive up the hill from Chico. The smells of the camp were great - wood fires, crisp autumn air, pine trees! I was ready to stay! Then I walked in to a room full of teenage boys, and decided I could just breath deep outside, and go home! I don't know how many boys they were expecting, but one mom I talked to was from Sacramento, so they were pulling from a wide area.

I took some pictures at his last meeting - they were working on first aid - and making real looking cuts. I know the boys had more fun playing with the fake blood than they possibly learned about first aid! The last picture is after they got a lecture about goofing off and wasting time.

One of my projects is complete! (except for a new clock). I re-did the main bath, and boy, is it re-done! Gone is the blue with yellow & pink, the fish, and origami decorations. It is now done in a rich rust and gold/geometric print. While Mom was visiting, we picked out the shower curtain and towels, soap dispenser and flowers, and then today I got the wall piece to finish it up. What a change! It took the step from being "the kid's bathroom" to the "main bathroom".

Koori and I managed to take a walk on the River Trail this morning. It was pretty early - right after we dropped AJ off at school. The sun was just beginning to shine on the North side of the trail, and still a bit chilly! Koori did much better walking on the trail than she does around the neighborhood. I think she is part mountain goat - she loved climbing up the small hills along the trail. She is still pretty hesitant about people approaching us, but doesn't run from them, just cautious. She didn't shy away from the bikes either. She sits quite nicely, and seems to understand "Heel" well too - but that could just be the "Help me, Mom" when people are near. The picture below was taken after she scrambled up the side of the hill when she heard someone coming behind us.

Christmas season has officially started - I just went on e-bay and put some bids on some Pokemon books for Alli. Her Christmas will be easy, and not real expensive, since she doesn't want/need anything now! AJ on the other hand - he wants a new gaming system - to the tune of about $350.00. We will have to see about that one! (We have every other game system known to man, why not that one too?)

AJ and I spent Tuesday evening working out in the corn maze at Nash's Pumpkin Patch. The scouts set up a display in the center of a "room" cut out of the corn. They have a coffin (cardboard spray painted black - and I didn't see too much paint on the scouts!) in a building made with a metal frame, and covered with black plastic. They have a strobe light set up in the building as well, and a skeleton will be placed in the coffin. Not too scary in the daylight, but it should give the little ones a shiver or two! The Patch opens this weekend, and the scouts will be working the corn maze the weekend of the 21st. If it doesn't rain, they should have fun. As you can tell, it got progressively darker as we worked, and - guess what - none of the scouts (except one) brought flashlights out to the corn maze with them! I had a flashlight on my key chain, and the adult leaders had flashlights, so it was quite amusing getting out of the maze in the dark!

I finished up "Moonstone" last night. I think it turned out okay, but "some people" didn't like my color combination! I think it would have looked better as a solid color, but it isn't bad this way. It would have looked better if I had done the same pattern on the last row too, but I didn't. Half the row is different than the other half! (That is what happens when you think you know what you are doing and don't look at what you did before, or the pattern!) I didn't notice it until I went to block it lat night, and I really didn't feel like "fixing" it. It probably won't get fixed!

Fall is here! I went up to Susanville this weekend, and hauled home a car-load of produce! I brought home three bags of potatoes and two pumpkins - huge pumpkins! Cindy met me at Mom's with her daughter, Rachelle, who was dressed up go visiting! She had already been to her "other" grandmothers' houses before going to Grandma Wanda's house. Dad had a pumpkin for her too, and told she had to put it in the truck. Here are pictures of her rolling the pumpkin to the back of the truck. The one with a "Say Cheese" smile is when she saw me with the camera! (What a ham!)

It stormed the night before I went up, so there was snow on the side of the road going up to Susanville, starting at about the 5,000 foot level. It was gone on Sunday when I came back.

The picture above of the Aspen trees was take out the window of the car, and picked up the reflection of my arm and watch on the window, but it was the best I got of the colors that are just starting to turn.