Happy Halloween!!

What are you going to be for Halloween? This year, we don't have anything planned for Halloween night, so we will probably stay home and hand out treats to trickster's. Though, on Saturday night, we're going to a Zombie Bash and I'm so excited to play dead! It's going to be so much fun! I think I'll go as a zombie from the 80's - frilly skirt, shoulder pads, and big hair. Tim should go as a zombie baseball player. We have a few days to decide how best to spook...

Stop the maddness!

In search for a good scare, we put on Jeepers Creepers.

zzz,

zzzz,

zzzzz....

skeptical sarcasm and sibling squabbles scarcely startle nor sufficiently scare.

I mean, if anything, I got bored and started cleaning.

Ugh, and he's like, a bat or something.

laaaame.

Hit me with your best shot! What is YOUR favorite scary movie? Send us a comment, and your suggestion may just be the next movie to cause me major psychological damage. Like this one:

To this day, I cannot walk down long corridors.

And this one:

But, I assure you, it is only the music that freaks me out.

Oh, and my favorite "Oh, SH*T!!!" moment in a scary movie:

It's a brilliant scene. And I don't dare grow my hair out too long anymore!

Ok, bring it! I want a good scary movie to watch...

the cuteness!

...but they take up too much of the bed.

Gutom ako!

Gutom ako is Tagalog for,"I'm hungry" - and yes, I am! I've got a craving for some warm Filipino food. If only my mom were in town to come over and cook for me! I love my mom's cooking so much. I love that she gladly alters predominately pork-heavy Filipino dishes to be vegetarian, despite her "ai nako" while doing so.

Tonight, I will attempt to make Pinakbet - one of my favorite Filipino dishes, reminding me of my childhood and satisfying my belly. I've never made this before. I googled a recipe just to find the main components, so I can attempt it for myself.

I am very impressed with the outcome of my first attempt at Pinakbet because it was delicious! It perfumed the house with a wonderful aroma and got my mouth watering. My sister came over and we talked about when we were young and how much we love okra.

I separated a small portion (whoa, I feel like my mom) and added shrimp (whoa, if mom could see me now, she wouldn't believe it!). Tim enjoyed the meal. He didn't like the fact that he had to peel the shrimp while eating, but:

1) It's enough that I cooked the shrimp

and 

2) Filipinos eat with their hands anyway, so he got the full experience!

It was fun cooking a "new" meal for dinner. I loved that I was able to share this with Tim, who is the best at being so open to trying new things - now, if only he'd get on the Kombucha train with me!

Devin's got a brand new groove!

This past Wednesday, Devin went to see the orthopedic surgeon for his second set of post-surgery radiographs. He came out from the Treatment room smiling and walking on all four paws - he's free from his cast! 

Oh, what a sweet relief to know that I don't have to do weekly bandage changes on him anymore, and also to know that he can get back to being a rambunctious puppy! He's been jumping around and dancing, you can tell he's so happy!

He's got some severe muscular atrophy, but it's nothing a a few extra laps around the block can't fix. As a matter of fact, it'll be good for ALL of us to do extra laps.

Here's a darling picture of Devin with his cool new foster-pal, Battleship.

Hi, I'm Chucky. Wanna play?

A vivid recollection:

When I was a kid, I really wanted a Kid Sister doll. Instead, my mom rented a movie. My whole family and I sat in my mom's room and watched Child's Play. Horrified, I watched a talking doll "come to life" and murder people. But what I remember the most is my little sister, Megan, curled up in a ball on the bed with her eyes tightly shut and her fingertips plugging her ears, trying to make the movie disappear. It was so sad and funny at the same time. Aw, I love my family, but seeing them scared is so entertaining.

Earlier this month, "Horror icon Chucky ran amok in Times Square for his 20th birthday."

I never wanted another doll ever again. And when my mom told me to water the plants in the garden and to pay special care to the cabbages because if I was good they'd grow up to be Cabbage Patch dolls, I never abided. 

Dolls are scary.

Phyllis, you're awesome!

I absolutely love the bag that you made for me. It is so durable and the pockets are plentiful, which helps as I tend to lug everything with me (multiple shades of lip gloss, too many pens, Devin's snacks, ipod, several bottles of scented antibacterial hand-sanitizers, etc). 

You should know that I've received many compliments on it's colors, but mostly it is complimented on it's amazingly fine craftsmanship. I love showing it off in all of it's glorious ways such as, "Look, it even has a keyring clip!"

I used the bag as my primary beach bag while in Kaua'i. Once returning to the mainland and the redundancy of a work schedule, I placed a bottle of fruit juice in the bag. Later that day, I reached in the bag for my juice and found sand stuck to the bottle because of the condensation. I felt like I was magically whisked away to Kauai with the sand and the fruit and my bag. It was a special moment.

Anyway, thank you so very much for making such a wonderful gift for me. Here are some pictures of the bag. Sure, they aren't showing in detail, but they're "action shots"!