Aaargh, hand over the booty!

OOOH, after last Friday's breakfast, I think Serendipity is the place to go to celebrate more than birthdays! I enjoyed a banana split and a frrrozen hot chocolate.

 

 I've heard Serendipity is known for their frrrozen hot chocolate. I thought it was o.k., kept giving me brain freezes more than anything, but the banana split – YUM! My mom and step-sister had more normal breakfast food – a bagel and lox (which I found out is raw salmon – yuch!, and a breakfast quesadilla). Overall, it was a great morning, and we followed it up with shopping at Target, Kohl’s, Old Navy, and Michaels.

Saturday I thought I would work on my schoolwork, to stay on track, but since that was the day that I increased my medicine from the pain management M.D., I ended up laying on the couch most of the day, too tired to do much else. After getting approval from the M.D., I take the increased dose only at night.

Sunday was the church’s 10 year anniversary celebration of their sanctuary! There was a slideshow presentation of the past 10 years, and after the service, a potluck! The meat and potatoes were provided by the church, from a dutch oven.

 The congregation brought side dishes, salads, and desserts. I took chocolate covered oreos. It was a good day, with lots of good food!

 Monday I attempted school again, getting a little further than I did Saturday. I got to take a mid-day break to celebrate my step-dad’s birthday, which is actually today, but with preparing for her yard sale tomorrow, my mom planned the party early. We found a plastic toy gun at the dollar store, and I painted it, to place on top of the cake. My sister in law made the ‘redneck wine glass’ that we gave as his gift.

That evening, my step-sister and I helped decorate the fellowship hall at church for the kid’s Halloween party.

 The youth carved 20 jac 'o lanterns for the party which was the next night

 Tuesday evening was another great time.

I was a pirate, and enjoyed saying “Aaargh” all night, and when the kids would get a little out of line, I threatened to make them “walk the plank”. One of my nieces came up and said “You’re too nice to be a mean pirate”. That melted me of course. The kids enjoyed eating mummy brains (mac and cheese), monster crunchies (chips), witch fingers (carrots with pink cream cheese on the end), and eyeballs (grapes). After eating, they played ‘Pin the bow tie on Mr. Bones’...

 ...and then made Dracula snot!

 Well, what does Aunt Leanne do when you make snot?

 That’s right, I stick it up my nose! I would “sneeze” and flick snot across the table at my nephews. After that fun, I read them the Pumpkin Parable, about a farmer who planted pumpkin seeds and covered them with dirt, then watered them and waited while they grew and grew. When they were fully grown, he chose one and washed the dirt off of it, then cleaned out all the slimy stuff inside and carved two triangles for eyes, a nose, and a big wide grin. Then he placed a candle inside and let the light shine through. There were Bible verses to go along with the story, and the message for the night was “Shine with the Light of the Lord”. Each child got to pick out a carved pumpkin (carved by the youth group the night before), and given a glow stick to wear on Halloween night, so they could “Shine with the Light of the Lord”. After the party, I went to visit my mother and step-dad, and when my step-dad opened the door, instead of “trick or treat”, I greeted him with “Aaargh, hand over the booty!” He didn’t miss a beat, and gave me a bag of candy corn! 

 Halloween night I added to my costume with John’s mask and went with my step-sister, her two kids, her sister in law and family of six kids (who were not enthused about the mask, so I took it off).

 We went to the local trunk or treat, and then trick or treating through their neighborhood. They all adopted me as Aunt Leanne and wanted to push my wheelchair, which made me feel so loved.

Yesterday John and I went to the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) tradeshow which “consists of a diverse group of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, publishing companies, auto restorers, street rod builders, restylers, car clubs, race teams and more” (sema.org). We did not have the required credentials to actually get inside the trade show, so we wandered around outside and looked at the displays and cars and trucks there.

 John was like a kid in a candy store and although I love car shows, this one was not high on my list. There were Lamborghinis, Jaguars, Rolls Royce’s, and lots of other outrageously expensive cars there, and there were some less exotic cars with outrageously expensive paint jobs or stereo systems. There were a few that impressed me, the rest just seemed like a display of folks with too much money. 

Our next 'rig'!