Swifty

(October 26th, 2023)

I don't consider myself a 'swifty.' I like some of Taylor's songs, but I'm not obsessed and I couldn't tell you the name of more than two of her albums...until now.

Now I could probably tell you four. (I have such a bad memory.)

When Taylor Swift was on tour, I heard about people going to the concerts, but I had no idea when and where they were. I live a fairly Swift-free life. Then she goes and makes the movie, which is a cool idea. So much cheaper than going in person and you get a close approximation of the real deal.

I probably would not have paid money to go to the movie. Well, I didn't pay money. Caroline loves Taylor Swift and Jason bought out the theater for a birthday present to her. She asked me if any of the girls wanted to come. Ivory would have loved it, but she was busy, so I took Beau. It sounded like a fun evening. I don't mind Taylor Swift, but I LOVE Caroline. 

We went to dinner at a fancy pizza place. I've already forgotten the name of that place too. Pizza 712 or something. It was actually super tasty. I feel bad that I didn't dress up more. It would have been a good excuse to buy something with sequins. 

The concert/movie was super fun. I loved the costumes and the back up dancers. The whole thing was well choreographed and executed. Taylor can sure put on a performance. I even got out of my seat and danced at one point. (Because Caroline said I had to.) I'm really glad I brought Beau. She knew the lyrics to every. single. song. Impressive.

It was a really fun night. In the end, I'm not more or less of a fan than I was before. But I'm glad I got to see the show.

Booooooks!

(October 2023)

Every year in October I want to do a fun Halloween display in the windows, but we usually do Teen Read week and I end up decorating for that instead. Then I don't want to change everything for just a week or two. I've had all these fun Halloween ideas that have just been sitting there. 

This year, however, Mr. Trent left on a cruise during the time we do Teen Read week. With the added burden of National Junior Honor Society and him being gone, I was feeling swamped. I didn't know how I was going to do it all. Then he told me that we don't have to do Teen Read week in October. We can do it anytime. What?? That is genius. (He doesn't know, but we are never doing it in October again. Not if I can help it. Instead, I'll be doing Halloween displays.) 

I started small for my first time. Just something simple and fun. I got Beau and her friend Courage to help make ghosts and I love how it turned out. 

Emily has been doing my stand up signs and I love her little decorations.

I put up some streamers and more ghosts inside. I think my favorite part is hanging things on the inside of the doors. 

Emily also helped me change the inside display. We did Peek-a-book and put up the most checked out books in the library. Then we covered them by genre and you could check under to see which ones were the most popular. It was a fun display.

It is a fun little enterprise to keep the library decorated. It's been nice to have the extra help from Emily. And she isn't even a library aide until next semester. I'm spoiled this year.

C.A.R.V.E.

(October 22nd, 2023)

We got our pumpkins at Jaker's and saved them to carve another day. As usual we tried to catch a day where everyone was available, but somehow we missed Dad. Or he didn't want to carve, which might also have been the case. But the rest of us had a great time. Here are some great before and afters:

Daisy only has a before because there was a slight issue with her pumpkins. She wanted to make Lock, Shock, and Barrel from the Nightmare Before Christmas, but when she finished, she only liked Barrel and didn't want to put the others up. We still got some background shots and I liked all three stacked for the whole effect.

We didn't take a lot of pictures while carving. Everyone gets into what they are doing.

I loved all the finished products. Everyone did a great job this year. Here is June's pixel carved pumpkin, my statue of liberty and Pearl's Minion (from Megamind) I think she did that pattern all by herself!

Other side was Daisy's Barrel, Ivory's skeleton, and Beau's sad clown. 

I was thinking that my lady liberty didn't look very good, but she was amazing with a candle inside. Check it out.

Minion looks pretty amazing too. I like his glowy eyes. It was a great year for carving. Sorry we missed you dad. 

Haunted Forest

(End of Sept - Oct, 2023)

The Haunted Forest is a fun place you can go to be scared around here. It isn't the only one. There is also the Haunted Circus, and Fear Factory. I think there might be a few more as well. But the Haunted Forest has been my go-to if ever I want to spend a ridiculous amount of money to have a few jump scares. I'm not really scared of people in costume anymore. 

Ivory  mentioned last year that she thought it would be fun to work there. She loves special effects, so the idea of dressing up and scaring people was right up her alley. When I saw signs saying the Haunted Forest was hiring, I told Ivory, and she went out right away and got a job.

It is definitely seasonal and pretty short. Haunted Forest is open on weekends at the end of September and then every night (except Sunday) in October. Ivory wasn't doing a lot, so she filled up her calendar and took as many shifts as she could. They don't pay very much, so if you want to make some money, you have to put in the time. Ives sure did.

They have an interesting set-up. You show up to work and choose a costume. It is first come, first serve. So if you don't come early enough, you might get stuck with something you don't want. The important costumes are doled out first, since they don't always have a large number of people working and they need to make sure the main characters are out there. That said, Ivory went through a large number of different characters. She tried the whole assortment.

The majority of the costumes had masks, but not all of them did. If you wore a mask, you put black around your eyes and mouth, so Ivory came home with a black face most evenings. Sometimes it didn't wash off well. I think Ivory probably had permanent eyeliner the whole month from having her eyes blacked out so often. Are you ready to see some of the characters she played? 

Her favorite was the Mortician. She was just short enough to fit in the coffin they had on display. Ivory would come home with funny stories and anecdotes every night. I think she had a good time overall, but some nights were exhausting and she would get very dirty and stay up very late. I was surprised how often she got hit on. Apparently, the Haunted Forest is the place to give your number out. Who doesn't want to date a stranger in a mask?

Some of us got to go out and see her. Daisy went with the young women. Beau, Pearl, June and I went another evening. I think Ivory was the Alien that night. (NOT her favorite costume.) We had a lot of fun and having a daughter working there made me see the place with new eyes. It was fun to see all these kids dedicated to coming, getting in costume, and trying to scare people. Weird hobby, but commendable. Beau clung to me the whole time, and I wasn't too scared, except by the second chain saw clown at the end. (I didn't expect a second one.) 

Oh, they also have a list of top scarers each evening. Ivory made the list a few times and got a couple prizes from her terrifying antics. I think many people would have been surprised to know that a petite, 17 year old girl made them pee their pants. :)