Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Not so scary Halloween

As a giant sissy, Halloween is a holiday of mixed emotions for me. Adorable costumes? Love. Plethora of scary movies? Not so much. Candy? Love. Teens with scary masks knocking on my door demanding food? Eek! I recently saw a poster for Chuckie during a midnight baby feeding; needless to say, my night was not restful. Here are 10 fun Halloween activities that won't give you nightmares!

10. Happy costumes: dress up just to have a dance party at home! No fake blood or scream masks allowed!

9. Dance party music: Pandora has a fun Halloween party station. The free streaming radio lets you thumbs up or down songs, then plays others that you'll like. Monster Mash, Thriller, Ghostbusters, Devil Went Down to Georgia and Mickey's Monster Mash are ones I've been giving the thumbs up to.

8. Trunk or treating: Church and school run events are well-lit, and there tend to be more young kids, meaning a smaller chance of scarier older-kid costumes.

7. Make a yummy snack: Pinterest is set to implode with the ridiculous amounts of adorable, kid friendly Halloween themed treats. Bumps on a log, anyone? My favorite is to pop some popcorn, then toss some candy corn in. Savory and sweet!

6. Throw a  sweet party: the best way to control the scariness level at a Halloween party is to throw one. Provide provisos outlawing anything too scary-- and make sure everyone knows what's too scary.

5. Hand out candy to cute kids! But beware: you have no filter to keep the scary ones away.

4. Watch a not so scary Halloween movie, such as Hocus Pocus; Ghostbusters; It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or Casper.

3. Watch the Halloween episodes of your favorite TV shows. You're familiar enough with the characters and plot arches that you'll know whether or not they'll veer too far towards frightful.

2. Carve a pumpkin. Nothing says Halloween like slimy pumpkin innards drying under your finger nails. But pumpkin carving is super fun, despite (or because of) the mess.

1. Read aloud a poem or story. For kids, this can be anything Halloween themed. For adults, the Raven or, really, anything by Edgar Allen Poe will do.

Halloween can be fun, even if you're a scaredy-cat like me. Have a happy and safe Halloween tomorrow!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Sister Dearest

You may think you have the best sister ever. You'd be wrong. Because I do! And she's turning 30 today! In order to properly celebrate her awesomeness, I'm going to share 30 things that make her the amazing woman she is. Here goes!

30. She's hilarious. Especially in elevators. It's not a story I can share publicly or I'd die mysteriously and probably  embarrassing way. Just trust me. She can do physical humor, and she's witty, and she's not afraid to laugh at herself.

29. She's beautiful, inside and out. I spent half my life praying I'd be half as pretty as my model sister. But once I hit a certain age, I discovered her outer beauty was enhanced by her inner beauty. 

29. She's super smart. High GPA, business school, successful business woman smart. Yet despite that...

28. She's so stinkin' gullible! Perhaps I Gould have been nice and said she's trusting, but honestly, her husband has tricked her into some gullible places. Se once spent a few minutes in a dark bathroom with a flashlight pressed to her ear because he told her the light would come out the other side. But, like my amazing sister, I also believe ridiculous things my husband tells me. Like how I could break my neck and kill myself by popping it. I spent a year not popping my neck in places where it would be dangerous (the car) or embarrassing (the shower) to die. Notice I didn't stop popping it completely.

27. She's sweet. Unless you have to share a bathroom for a decade. Then the claws come out.

26. She forgives you for the crazy bathroom fights you had as teenagers. 

25. She openly ridicules you as payment for the bathroom fights you had as teenagers, but only playfully.

24. She isn't afraid to try new things. Or if she is, she does it anyway. She tried trapeze when I was learning, even though it scared her a little. A few weeks ago, she sent me a photo of her trying aerial yoga. I was seriously impressed. And a little jealous, because it looked crazy fun.

23. She gets me in that unique way that only sisters can. She won't love me any less if I spend half a conversation complaining. And I don't love her any less when she does the same.

22. She LOVES her nephew deeply and truly from the day he was born, even though she didn't get to meet him until he was 5 months old.

21. We share a special sister connection. When we called to tell her I was in labor, she started crying out of excitement. She's the sweetest.

 20. She can weather any storm. In 2012, she lost our dad and both her cats died within a year. It was awful. But she made it.

19. She's faithful. Not in a Lassie way, but unto God. She's a woman of faith. She knows God is always leading her down the right path. 

18. She's courageous; she fearlessly goes where God leads her.


17. She isn't afraid to break the status quo. After graduating college, she bought a Nissan. Our family had been a Ford-only family for decades because our dad worked for Ford,but she wasn't afraid to step out. 

16. She has a potty mouth. No, really. The things she says make me blush for her. But she has a good heart.

15. She has a good heart. 

14. She's empathetic. She can always relate to my situation, such that she actually experiences it with me. When my Charlie died, she was at a destination wedding in Mexico. Not wanting to ruin it, I didn't call her. She called me, told me it counted as an emergency and really, I should've called. Then she cried with me. 

13. My son loves her so much he never even spit up on her!

12. She's very self-aware. She can spot weaknesses or flaws within her character and not only acknowledges them, but either embraces or alters them.

11. She's forgiving. Whether big or small, she's forgiven every trespass I've made.
It's amazing.

10.  She's brave. This is different than being courageous. Having courage is a character attribute. Being brave means stepping up, or down, to best suit the situation. 

9. She's always been my friend. We moved around a lot as kids, and she acclimated faster. But she always made time for me. 


8. She played with me, even though my toys were on a much younger level than she was. She's four years older than me, but she still played with a Barbie even though she was more interested in MTV.

7. She didn't kill me when I loudly spoke on the bus about the boy she liked. Volume control wasn't my strong suit in elementary school.

6.  She helped my parents play Santa to make it even more special for me.

5. She's strong. In both the business world and her personal world, she can be formidable. 

4. She's resilient. She knows God would never give her something she couldn't handle, and nothing has ever broken her.

3. She didn't drown me, even though we had a swimming pool and I gave her a myriad of motives (I could be very, very annoying as a child).

2. She kept my secrets, and I've kept here (despite having this very public forum to tempt me :) ).

1. She's my sister. I'll always be thankful God placed her in my life, to help lead and shape me. With one parent traveling every week, she stepped up to help out. She's a huge part of who I am. Our closeness may have ebbed and flowed over time, but we always make up for it. She's amazing and wonderful and I wish you could all be her friend. She's magnificent, and I'm so blessed to get to share a lineage and a lifetime with her.

Happy birthday, big Sis. You are truly the best.