artykins

Hello!  I thought I'd take a break to blog a little since there happens to be an alarm of some sort going off at frequent intervals and generally making me crazy.  It sounds like a car alarm, but it could be a house alarm.  A really annoying house alarm.

Anyway, I've realized that it's that time of year once more.  It's October.  My favorite month of the whole year.  It's the time of year when things start changing.  I've already noticed that several homes around the area have put up various Halloween things.  One house on Grand has a giant purple inflatable spider attached to the side of the house between two windows.  Trader Joe's has been putting up fake cobwebs and hanging friendly looking ghosts from the ceiling.

My own house already has a pumpkin in it.  The top has been cut off and it's been filled with flowers, so that's nice looking.  There's also a grapevine wreath on the door that I've put up with some more flowers and leaves.  And there's a bow that my mom made for me with really pretty ribbon.

This month has a lot of potential for fun.  You'd think that with the circumstances of last year, I'd hate this month.  A year ago today I was jobless despite a degree from a great school.  I was facing the prospect of not being able to marry the man of my dreams as we had planned.  I was so furious with God that I could scream and all in all, things just looked really dire.  I was really angry and really depressed about everything.  And it wasn't like me to be those things.

Well, angry is like me, but angry for me is nothing a cookie can't fix.

But despite all of that, I can't seem to stop loving the month of October.  And I'll tell you why:

1) Tomorrow night Uncle Benny is coming over to our place for dinner and then the three of us will be heading over to the airport to pick up a rental car (or in our case, a mini van).  Thursday evening the three of us will then be joined by my two brothers and the five of us will then drive down to southern California for a long weekend of fun.  Friday is Disneyland.  Need I say more?  Saturday we'll be met by Sara (our awesome cousin), Chrissy (Jeff's awesome girlfriend), Alf (who puts the 'so' in awesome), and Craig and Julia (who put the 'awesome' in awesome).  Sunday will consist of driving back home.

A quick trip, yes, but it should be fun.

2) Lathrop.  This is a place of desolation and people who choose to live in desolation.  I say this because Lathrop is a place that's WAY the heck out there in the middle of nowhere.  But, it has a pumpkin farm.  And a pumpkin farm means pumpkins, which in turn means a giant corn maze and pumpkin blasters.

Come on.  What's not to be exciting and fun about getting to launch little pumpkins out of an old military grade air cannon?  This year I'm aiming for the hardest target around...a cow bell.

3) Mornings.  Yes, the mornings are darker and more sleep inducing than they are during the spring and summer months, but those who get up early enough are lucky enough to see the change that October brings to mornings around here.

There's a misty quality to them.  And they're gray and chilly.  All the things I love.

4) Nights.  You get to curl up under blankets and quilts.  Or in my case, next to a husband with warm legs that make a perfect resting place for cold feet.  Also, I have an abundance of cool quilts hanging around my house that I can start using.

5) October comes before November.  And November is when I get Thanksgiving.  But more importantly, November is when I get Thanksgiving leftovers, which almost always find themselves put together in the form of a turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwich.

6) It gets darker earlier.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of it being lighter longer during the summers, but when it gets to be this time of year, lights start coming on earlier and things start looking cozier when you pass by.  It makes for great long evenings in with good food and good company.

I'm very much looking forward to entertaining this season.

7) Leaves.  They fall of the trees and make a crunching sound.  It makes a great backdrop for taking pictures of people in sweaters and brown skirts or courdoroy trousers.

Well, in other news, Matt's white blood cells are now fighting a battle.  He caught my cold and was up (although I don't know if he was awake or not) most of the night sniffling and making dark cave noises.  Guess who didn't sleep very well last night.

Anyway, I drugged him this morning with some Dayquil and hopefully that's taking care of some of the symptoms.  I'm really hoping he'll be better by Thursday.  There's nothing worse than having to travel when you're sick.

Currently I'm considering lunch options.  I'm hungry already and I had breakfast this morning.  I find that when I eat breakfast I get hungrier sooner in the day whereas when I don't eat something I'm fine until later.  Weird, I know.  But still, I had breakfast this morning and I'm hungry already.

Whether or not I'm going to pounce on one of my LUNA bars now like a jackal on a wounded possum is still to be determined.

- A