This Perfectly Imperfect Life

well, a rather un-eventful All Hallow's! the weather was better than last year (way less humid) but i didn't even get 1/2 the trick-or-treater's i had in 2006! such a disappointment! 1 mom and 1 cute little witch told me how much they liked all the dec's and the spooky music playing! (horror movie themes of course!!!) that really made my day! and 1 of our tenants' little girls (in a cute little devil costume!) wanted to come back to our place before going home! i'm sad it's going to be all over in about an hour & a 1/2. though fall doesn't technically end until 12/21, this to me is the end of fall and my favorite time of year! with it being so stinking hot & humid most of this month and with my being sick nearly the entire month, i don't feel as though i've been able to absorb any of it, even with all the dec's having been up since 10/1! i'm also sad because this day makes me miss my little girl so painfully much, once the kids st...

Happy Happy Halloween!

i added a new ghoul to the dec's outside yesterday! (the off white one to the left hanging on the brick!) isn't he great?! (i think so!) and yesterday afternoon i began carving up the pumpkins we bought on sunday ~ i always do feel a bit guilty over it since they're like any other living thing in my garden ~ i added cinnamon spice to the inside of their tops! oh what delicious scents wafted from them after their candles were lit for a while! (got that tip from diy network's 'witch crafts' special!) this guy here is out back on the patio! i also carved a bunch of mini pumpkins which i'll have to take pics of late since the ones i took last night didn't come out so hot! same pumpkin duo as above just much later last night! hubby was worried that someone might come along and do something to them if i left them outside ~ i was one step ahead of him and already planned to bring them in for the night, which i did! so much to do today! i've got to do ...

well, i guess being under doctor's orders to "take it easy" for a few days couldn't have happened at a better time! (my head cold that turned into bronchitis has now turned into strep throat! yeah, that whole spur of the moment lighthouse challenge we did this past weekend (see prev posts) probably didn't help!!!) yesterday & today it's been very windy, pouring off & on and now downright chilly at 50 degrees! so yesterday i watched a couple of "scary" movies (the fog and halloween), wrote and generally lazed around. today i watched a really bad 70's "horror" movie on amc this morning then hooked up the lap top in the living room to type my "scary story" assignment for the writing group! in between down pours i also got the tenant's rent statements out. now i've got to get dinner going (using the left over beef roast from yesterday to make stew today!) and i've got to get cracking on that scarf i started kn...

just go to the following: www.picasaweb.google.com/GardeningJo/NJLighthouseChallenge2007SatSun10201021

We actually finished the Lighthouse Challenge at the Sea Girt light, but they had run out of the puzzle pieces that said you did the entire challenge! What an anti climatic end to a very interesting and very exhausting wkend! So, we made our way back to Sandy Hook light (pictured above!) in the hopes they had those puzzle pieces and the did! The lighthouse society volunteers were so cute - they blew noise makers for every one who finished the challenge!

This is the Cape May lighthouse - our 6th and final of today! We're now resting comfy in a motel - hubby asleep and me awake watching hitchcock's psycho on the tv! The weather was so beautiful! The glorious reds, yellows and oranges on the trees fill me with such homey contentment! Time to try and sleep - we are getting up about 6am to begin our morning of visiting the last 5 lighthouses!

Here's how we've decided to spend our saturday! (And maybe our Sunday morning!) There are 11 active lighthouses in NJ and this wkend the NJ lighthouse society gives out a puzzle board of sorts and you get a piece that fits into it at every lighthouse you visit! If you visit them all this wkend, you get a certificate from the lighthouse society! We've been to the two lighthouse closest to our home and we're now on the road to the one farthest away! I misunderstood hubby and thought we were only doing the ones closest to home so when he fell back to sleep around 6:20am, i didn't wake him! When we woke back up around 7:30a, we didn't get outta bed til after 8am and didn't leave til nearly 9am and we had to stop for breakfast! It started at 8am! Oh well, my bad!

Thursday, October 18, 2007 4:29:55 PM ugh! here i am, supposed to be trying to write a scary story (for our little writer's group given the time of year!) and it's 74 degrees with 87% humidity! we had more fall like weather in august than we've had since the beginning of fall last month! but, more so than anything right now, i'm panicking! panicking because i emailed hubby's resume this afternoon to a company in pennsylvania. and what sucks is that this spring i was ready to leave nj! and when hubby left agent orange for the wolf in sheeps clothing this may and told me that there wasn't even a reason to visit tennessee, i was so crushed to my very soul, i didn't think i'd get over it! to say the least, i haven't been happy with the thought of staying in nj, but i decided to accept it and be thankful for where i live and what i have instead of not appreciating it and being all "woe is me." hubby and i talked recently and...

I had 7 or 8 fairly large cherry tomato's from my garden out front and i was wondering what i could do with them since we probably wouldn't be having salad any time soon! I didn't want them to go to waste. Then it dawned on me! Brushetta! This works in a pinch and tastes good! (I've made this before!) Chop/ slice the tomato's into small pieces and dump into a bowl along with their juice. Season with some pepper (i use McCormicks Peppercorn Medley Grinder) and powdered garlic (i use way more than the pepper) and a couple pinches of dried parsley. Then i poured in extra virgin olive oil - i don't do a specific amount, ';eyeball'; it! I guess about a quarter to half a cup depending on how much tomato's you used. Anyway, stir everything well to make sure the garlic powder mixes with the olive oil. Let it sit about 5 minutes then stir again. Usually i toast up some pita pockets then cut them into smaller pieces and then spoon the brush...

While the new moon was rising above the trees out front, out back hubby and i finally broke in our chiminea which i picked up at kohl's at least a few months ago if not more! (65% off! Only cost about $45!) Something very comforting about it!

autumn has finally settled in! halloween lights and decorations are coming alive ~ the sun is long behind the trees though not quite set, darkness comes a bit earlier down here in the dip of the area highlands. the breeze a comforting sound and feel after the untimely heat & humidity we've just had. the crickets are chirping slowly in the chilly air, their songs always a comfort too.

click on the links below to see the albums i uploaded today! http://picasaweb.google.com/GardeningJo/Fall2007Part1 http://picasaweb.google.com/GardeningJo/Summer2007 http://picasaweb.google.com/GardeningJo

Domestic Violence Awareness month. it aggitates me that this never or rarely gets mentioned because this month is also breast cancer awareness month! both can save lives and therefore are equally important as far as i'm concerned! http://www.ncadv.org/takeaction/DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth_134.html

below are the 2 writing prompts i picked (out of a bag!) at the 1st meeting of a local writer's group on 9/21. our next meeting is on 10/16 and i do believe we'll have to read out pieces aloud if we chose to share them! (yeesh!) Written Tuesday, 9/25/07, 11:18am "My Mother never told me" My Mother never told me… There wasn’t anything I couldn’t do, that writing is a good thing, that she doesn’t like me, if she had any hopes and dreams for me and not for her, that she’d like to be a grandmother, that I’m a good person or that she wanted me to go to college. My Mother never told me… That I really was fat at times growing up, that I could be successful, that any of my right decisions were right, that it’s ok to be different and not blend in or that it’s ok to trust yourself. My Mother never told me… That she resents the fact that I love and am committed to other people besides her, that she’d tell everyone I moved out when in fact she kicked me out, that she “didn’t mean...

Hubby, myself and 1 of our nephews went to the annual gunning and decoy show in tuckerton nj yesterday. The weather was beautiful! Cool and breezy! I fell in love with tuckerton borough! Just before we left to come home, i told hubby that if we stay in jersey i'd like to move there! I was very disappointed that we couldn't stay and explore beyond the lake and seaport area's we'd been in, but nephew had to get home! Now, onto today! I've been in such a good mood all day, this being october 1st and all! Most of the halloween decs are up, inside and out! I even watched "the great pumpkin!"

today is one of my favorite days of the year! time to put the halloween stuff out!!! yes, i'm excited! i never used to hold off until october 1st, but since hubby's not a big halloween fan, i only put out fall-ish type things around the autumn equinox that can stay out through thanksgiving and wait to put out the very obviously halloween stuff until today! and what a perfect day for it too! cool & cloudy! i've also got to get those tulip bulbs i bought out into the planters outside soon in case the weather turns and it gets cold! i'm not worried about the pesky, psychotic squirrels digging them up now since the planters are all full ~ it's when they've gone bare and just before blooming again that worries me! they not only burried peanuts in all of my planters last year in this, (my neighbor upstairs likes to leave peanuts in shells out on her deck for them), but they dug up (and ate!) a lot of my bulbs this spring! well, lots to do today! got to get crackin...