witch hunt

Halloween wouldn't be complete without a witch hunt at Gardner Village. The place is full of whimsical witches all acting quite.....silly - one riding a bike across a tight-rope, one crashing into the side of an old grain silo, one begging passers-by for some chocolate, another for a kiss (one even sitting in the outhouse reading her newspaper - her name is "Witchy-Poo"!). The funnest part for the kids is the "hunt" where they need to search for certain witches around the grounds, write down their location, and then, once they've found them all, they can trade in their completed Witch Hunt paper for a delicious chocolate chip cookie!

Needless to say, we found all but ONE witch. Oh you "Witch-who-is-afraid-of-a-mouse"....where were you?! We looked everywhere for you! You must have been SO very afraid of that silly mouse that you just ran away. Far away. Oh well, the nice lady at The Neighborhood Bakery had sympathy on us cold and tired witch-hunters and gave us our cookies anyway.

A trip to Gardner Village would not be complete without a visit to The Neighborhood Bakery for some pumpkin sugar cookies and a couple of sprinkle doughnuts!

A few of the locals - these ladies are real witches! I just know they are.

I think I could become friends with this witch - she and I seem to have something in common - the willingness to do almost anything for some chocolate. (I asked her if dark was her favorite, like me, but she wouldn't answer me. Kind of a rude witch, I'd say....maybe I don't want to be her friend!)

recital

Matthew: "Mom, if I go blind before my piano recital do I still have to do it or can I cancel?"

here we go again.....

Bleah.

like mother, NOT like daughter

This morning I went for my usual Saturday morning run. And as usual, at about 10 minutes into it, I was already wanting to be done. I grumbled to myself the whole time because I was too cold, then I was too hot, then I was too cold. I was tired, I was hungry, and I had a cramp in my side. I pretty much hated every single minute of it. I finally grudgingly finished out my 3 miles and was thrilled to have it behind me.

About 2 hours later, Brooke called me....

"Mom, I went running this morning and I swear I could have run another marathon! I was loving every minute of it. It was nice and cool, perfect weather, and wonderful! After running for over an hour I thought to myself that maybe I should stop, even though I really didn't want to. But I decided it probably wouldn't be that good for me to run for very much longer since I'm not training for anything right now. So I went back home but I really could have just kept going and going and going!"

Whatever.

This, my dear Brooke, is why you run marathons and your mother doesn't.

The day I've been waiting for...

Look what just arrived in my mailbox! I love casting my vote by mail - it's simplifying at its best! Sitting at my kitchen counter in my jammies, casting my vote for the next President of the United States. Not that my vote here in Utah counts or makes any difference whatsoever, but it's nice to think that I'm helping shape the future of our country. It is a nice thought. Sigh....

What a crazy presidential election this has been. Honestly, I am sick of it and am SO ready for it to be over! All I can do at this point is fill in the oval and cross my fingers (for what, I'm not really sure).

May the best man (and woman) win! ;)

Mitt Romney has asked that I do not write in his name.

Darn it Mitt! Sigh (again).....

like mother, like daughter

To my darling daughter Raegan,

I PROMISE that next time you are going to a school dance I will NOT be sewing on your dress while your date is sitting upstairs waiting. I know, I know - he was waiting for a long time. A really long time! Yes, I do remember this exact same thing happened last year for the Sweethearts Dance. Next time I will have your dress done days, no, weeks in advance.
(I just figured that since I only had the sleeves to make and sew in it, well, that should only take a few minutes...shouldn't it? *sheepishly*)

And..... I didn't know there were other people waiting in the car! Yes, I can totally understand the "look" they gave us as we finally emerged from the house. And I am sure the following conversation took place....
"Oh finally! Here they come. What the crap took them so long to get out here?!
Oh no!! Great. There is Raegan's mom wielding her dang camera - now we have to wait again for her to take pictures. Hello Raegan's mother, do you think that we have nothing better to do tonight?!"

Yes Raegan, I remember telling you about how my mom would be desperately sewing on my high school dance dresses while my dates would be waiting downstairs in the living room. I would stand next to her at the sewing machine freaking out and completely panicked! I knew I would never let that happen when I, Maryanne, was sewing on my daughter's dance dresses.

Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?! Sigh.
(Note to my mom...sorry mom for ever getting upset or frustrated or mad at you for not finishing my dress before my date got there to pick me up. That was just soooo wrong of me. I KNOW that you were doing your absolute best and with all you had to do as a mother, it was absolutely amazing that you were still willing to make me a dress!)

Sorry Raegan. Sorry Alec. Sorry people waiting in the car. I'll do better next time. I promise. No, I pinky-promise.