October Blog Party!

Do something holiday related everyday the month of October and blog about it. You do not have to blog everyday, just chronicle what you've been doing on each day when time permits.

Oh wow! It's been nearly 2 weeks since I updated this! Well, before we head off to TN and people think I completely flaked out, here's the list update:

1. Started to gather surprizes for my Samhain swap partner and a few other friends...
   



2. Watched The Corpse Bride
   



3. Watched Cat People (1980s version)
   



4. Cleaned off my altar and made it Samhain-ready!
   



5. Added a spooky friend to my keyboard
   



6. Made a bunch of candy wrapper bracelets (while doing scary chemistry!)
   



7. Watched the crows fight the wind
   



8. Started a seasonal picture
   



9. Found beauty in a rainy day
   



10. Enjoyed a brisk fall day at the beach
    



11. Took a drive through the Pennsylvanian country-side and enjoyed the peak colors
    



12. Roughed out a haunted house for a Halloween Advent calendar
    
    (This never got finished in time, for the 3rd year in a row...)



13. Drew a spooky magic tree
    



14. Finished some seasonal candy wrapper bracelets
    



15. Finished a YA book about a witch, Bras & Broomsticks
    



16. Painted a fabulous fall bunny
    



17. Went overboard on a package for a friend
    [Eeep! I was so excited about it, I forgot to take pictures! >.< She should be posting some soon...
    If it's arrived! I know I should have gotten Delivery Confirmation!]



18. Bought gobs of goodies to fill said package
    [Eeep! Again I was so excited about it all, I forgot to take pictures! >.< I hope she posts soon!]



19. Watched The Addams Family
    



20. Started drawing Catrina
    



21. Sketched out another quick spooky pic
    



22. Finished Catrina (maybe)
    



23. Finished a spooky book, lost boy, lost girl
    



24. Went to a Halloween themed birthday party in costume!
    
    Rock Star JoAnn, Esme Ghoul (holding Zelly Ghost), Witch Jacqueline and her Witchy Apprentice Lia, Ant as Nickelback
    (get it? there's a nickel taped on his back! XD ), and Bunny Me...



25. Stopped for some seasonal photos of the moon
    



26. Watched The Crow
    



27. Fleshed out some Dia de los Muertos ideas...
    
    Inspired by Suzi Blu for some!



28. Working half day in Kindergarten and half day in first grade... pretty scary stuff...
    Maybe we'll fit in something else fun & festive...



29. Going to a Rocky Horror Party!
    [Pictures will come later!]



30. Driving through the mid-Atlantic foliage to Roan Mountain State Park in TN
    [Pictures will come later!]



31. Halloween!
    [Pictures will come later!]

And Beyond!

We'll be celebrating Dia de los Muertos and doing other fabulously fun seasonal activities while in Tennessee, and of course Pictures will come later!

Interesting

From Scientific American Frontiers "Fat & Happy?"

"Parents who use restrictive eating practices ... actually have the children who eat the most."

"Restriction actually tends to foster consumption in the absence of hunger in children and increased interest in the very foods that parents think children shouldn't be eating, and conversely pressuring children to eat healthy foods tends to turn them off with respect to those foods."

"We need to help parents to understand what are reasonable portion sizes for children, so that parents have reasonable expectations about how much foods kids need to eat. ... We need to help parents to appreciate how children learn to like foods that aren't sweet and that aren't salty, and the way that you do that is you have to be pretty patient as a parent. We know that kids initially reject a lot of new foods unless they're sweet or salty, and it's only with repeated ... non-coercive presentations that kids learn to eat a lot of those foods."

~Leann Birch, Children's Eating Lab, Penn State U

"Without that kind of receptive parenting, our kids are caught in two terrible traps: first we say finish your food, then we put too much food on the plate. Then we say that high fat, high calorie snack foods are forbidden; so kids want to binge on them." ~Scientific American Frontiers narrator

I think this same principle works for other things as well. Restrict TV and video games, and force books and *educational activities* on them, and you get the typical school-aged child who "doesn't want to do anything but sit & watch TV or play video games!"

And even more interesting is that I think this applies to adults as well. We have all these voices in our heads, from our parents, our peers, the media..., and we restrict ourselves, but it doesn't work. Think about it. People are always going on diets, we make the same resolutions every New Year's Eve, there are hundreds of self-help books in bookstores and thousands of websites... But we fall off the diets and binge, we need to make the same resolution this New Year's Eve, and new books and websites keep popping up with new ideas...

Thought provoking quotes

...from The Girl with No Shadow...

"...and every time I looked at them they seemed to be laughing at me.

"I don't care. Who wants to be like those two?

"But then I see them with their heads together, and I can tell from the way they are looking at me that they're laughing at me again. Why? What is is about me? In the old days at least I knew what made me different. But now --

"Is it my hair? Is it my clothes? Is it because we've never bought anything at the [mall]? Is it because we never go skiing ... or to Cannes for the summer? Is it some kind of label on me, like a cheap pair of [sneakers], that warns them I'm second-rate?

"...There is nothing unusual about me; nothing to suggest we haven't got money. I wear the same clothes as everyone else. My schoolbag is the same as theirs. I see the right films, read the right books, listen to the right music. I ought to fit in. But somehow I still don't.

"The problem is me. I just don't match. I'm the wrong shape, somehow, the wrong color. I like the wrong books. I watch the wrong films in secret. I'm different, whether they like it or not, and I don't see why I should pretend otherwise.

"But it's hard when everyone else has friends. And it's hard when people only ever really like you when you're being someone else."

...

"I wouldn't mind if someone else was It sometimes. But they never are. It's always me."

...

"It's not that I'm shy. I like people. I get on with them. I like to talk... I'm not...too shy... touchy... or snobby... I'm always here to listen if someone's upset... but just when I think we're getting somewhere, she goes and starts some new thing... and when I say, ...don't do that, she just gives me that look and says it's only a joke, and so I have to laugh, even when I don't want to, because I don't want to be the one with no sense of humor. But it really doesn't feel funny to me... it's only funny when you're not It.

~ All above from Anouk's thoughts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Actually...in the seduction department, colored candles are vastly overrated when compared to oral sex." ~ Zozie's thoughts on what color candle to burn for a love spell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The thing about beauty... is that actually it doesn't have much to do with looks at all. It's not about the color of your hair, or your size, or your shape. It's all in here." She tapped her head. It's how you walk, and talk, and think...

"Call it attitude, if you like. Call it charisma, or chutzpah, or glamour, or charm. Because basically it's about standing straight, looking people in the eye, shooting them a killer smile, and saying, fuck off, I'm fabulous." ~Zozie on beauty

Best commercial ever!

SQUEE! ^-^

October Blog Party!

Do something holiday related everyday the month of October and blog about it. You do not have to blog everyday, just chronicle what you've been doing on each day when time permits.

Here's the list update: Now with pictures!

1. Started to gather surprizes for my Samhain swap partner and a few other friends...
   
   
   
2. Watched The Corpse Bride
   



3. Watched Cat People (1980s version)
   



4. Cleaned off my altar and made it Samhain-ready!
   



5. Added a spooky friend to my keyboard
   



6. Made a bunch of candy wrapper bracelets (while doing scary chemistry!)
   



7. Watched the crows fight the wind
   



8. Started a seasonal picture
   



9. Found beauty in a rainy day
   



10. Enjoyed a brisk day at the beach
    



11. Took a drive through the Pennsylvanian country-side and enjoyed the peak colors
    



12. Roughed out a haunted house for a Halloween Advent calendar
    



13. Oh


14. em


15. gee!


16. What


17. festive


18. Seasonal


19. things


20. will


21. I


22. do


23. next?


24. So


25. much


26. of


27. the


28. month


29. is


30. left!


31. Halloween!

October Blog Party!

Do something holiday related everyday the month of October and blog about it. You do not have to blog everyday, just chronicle what you've been doing on each day when time permits.

Here's the list update:

1. Started to gather surprizes for my Samhain swap partner and a few other friends...


2. Watched The Corpse Bride


3. Watched Cat People (1980s version)


4. Cleaned off my altar and made it Samhain-ready! (Pictures coming soon...)






















































31. Halloween!

Giveaway!

Awesome giveaway at http://darklingwoods.blogspot.com/2009/09/black-cats-in-hats-halloween-giveaway.html

The 7- Meme Award

I've been tagged! Whee! Charity Joy Bell tagged me and thus, I am compelled by the Bloggers Code of Honor...

To receive this award, you are supposed to list 7 personality traits of yourself, and then pass on to 7 other people who should link back to you, do the same, and also pass on to seven others.


So personality traits... weird... does anyone other than psychologist really know what those are? *I* don't... rilly... so I looked it up. And that's trait #1 of mine. If I come across something I don't understand, I need to look it up. (Here's a good site: http://wilderdom.com/personality/L6-2PersonalityTraits.html) Ok, maybe that's not a *trait* but I am counting it as one... The rest in list format!

2. I tend to be sensitive
3. and emotional
4. and imaginative.
5. I am trusting (to a fault)
6. and shy in person
7. but really very friendly & warm.

And now to tag 7 of you! Ummmm... I don't wanna... :P Trait #8, I don't like to follow the rules... LOL! If you feel a desire to do this, please feel free to steal and use 'til your heart's content!

October Blog Party!

Do something holiday related everyday the month of October and blog about it. You do not have to blog everyday, just chronicle what you've been doing on each day when time permits.

I almost forgot! If it weren't for The Wenchy Wiccan, I completely would have! So again, thank you, Sarah! And be sure to click on the image to go see other people's lists of fun!

Now, without further ado, my list:

1. Started to gather surprizes for my Samhain swap partner and a few other friends...


2. Watched The Corpse Bride


























































31. Halloween!

Tonight's Amusement

Yes... this is our local BK...

So like... Alanis? Courtney Love? Pink? Which one are they selling I wonder.... XD

ETA: How appropriate that I wake up this morning to find that this week's topic is FAST FOOD! XD

TiLT and MMB Winner!

I've not done one of these in a long time (they seem to be getting further & further apart!), and I have much to be loving! But first, I completely failed to do Mosaic Monday Bunday this Monday! I have a super de-duper reason though, wait 'til you see.... ~_^ So before we get to that, and TiLT, let's pick a winner! Several people guessed that the secondary theme was indeed FALL (or Autumn as the case may be), so I had Random.org pick me a winner:

And our second correct guess came from Carol from My Painting Room! Check out her beautiful watercolors! (And Carol, in case you didn't get my email, please send your address to me at bunnykissd@gmail.com so I can send your package!)

And now, onto...

♥ First and foremost this week is my reason for slacking off on the blogging...

Benji! My gift-grandson who has come to stay with us during the week! (Being held by his Granny in this photo...)

♥ And then of course there is...

My New Camera, which did not take all these photos...

♥ Visiting the zoo is always fun...

Emma & Benji, Paparazzi style!



Penguin People!

♥ I also love Drag Kings (I've mentioned Drag Queens in previous TiLTs, but these dudes are just as talented...)

Johnny Shotts

♥ Don't forget...

Road Trips! (Bet the new camera would get a better shot...)

♥ And then there's family fun...

Ant & Jacqueline who tells Wicked Puns...

♥ Fall is in the air now...

Sumac & Purple Asters

♥ And have I mentioned my new grandson?

Lia feeding Benji (Is there anything cuter?)

♥ Honorable Mentions: Making party plans, the Reflet collection and the Merveilles de la Mer collection, these images, making art, making travel plans, BunnyFish!


♥ Positive Graffiti ♥
Things I Love Thursday is brought to you by Gala Darling...