Wow…..it has come fast. Samahin is here…and almost over.

‘K’ and I carved his pumpkin on Saturday. He loved digging in and getting the pulp and seeds out. And then I carved a basic pumpkin face and took pictures….which I’ll get developed soon. Later ‘J’ and I watched Cursed. It was your typical werewolf movie, but it was disappointing in the scariness factor.

Sunday we watched American Werewolf In Paris….and that was pretty good. Then Sunday night it was Hide And Seek. I love a good psychological thriller and this was one. I also baked cookies that night.

And then today. I made a pumkin pie that didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped, especially after spending so much time making it. I used real pumpkin (not from a can). I did the same last year, but it came out better last year. I did use a different recipe, since I couldn’t find the one I used last year….that could have had something to do with it.
Around 6 in the evening, right after dinner, the boys and I got dressed up (’K’ was Buzz Lightyear, ‘G’ was the grim reaper, and I was a witch). We went trick-or-treating all around the apartments where we live and then hit the ones across the street. After about an hour and a half, ‘K’ was tuckered out….and I was getting there, too. We headed home with the hordes of candy the boys made out with (and I even got some!). Once home, I whipped out the camera real fast (but not fast enough….the boys had already gotten undressed and I made them dress up again just so I could get some pics). I had gforgotten to take pictures before we left….but oh well, at least I got them. Then the boys ate some of their candy, and we all had a piece of pumpkin pie.
Now, I’m waiting for a cartoon to get over that ‘K’ is watching (and for him to go to bed) and then I’m gonna search for something scary to watch. And later I’ll be doing a Samhain ritual.

You know it’s Halloween-time when a body hanging from a tree in a busy neighborhood goes unreported for 3 hours. People thought the body of a 42 year old woman was a Halloween decoration or prank….little did they know it was a suicide.

FREDERICA, Del. - The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.

The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.

State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.

“They thought it was a Halloween decoration,” Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.

“It looked like something somebody would have rigged up,” she said.

Ahhh…it rained today. I’ve been waiting for the rain to come. Finally….we have the first rain of the autumn season. Makes me happy.

Well, I’ve been tipped off by an old friend about this website called MySpace.com. I haven’t talked to her in ages and she wanted to share some of her pics with me. So I signed up and I’ve been playing in it all evening…lol. Though it’s got a blog, I don’t think I’ll be using it…unless I just post the same in it as I do here. I’ll probably just link to here from there, though….so I don’t have to take the time to double post. Anyway, here’s the url…http://www.myspace.com/ravyngyrl. I’m still tweaking it…I want to change the layout some (graphics wise), as soon as I figure out how to do that. With that said….enjoy!

Alright, here are the pics Crystal and I finally got developed of our trip to Burney Falls during the summer. We took this trip in lieu of camping, since that was when our car blew up. The area is beautiful and I got some awesome pics of the falls.

Burney Falls from the top of the trail (which leads to the base of the falls)

Crystal’s boy, Crystal, ‘K’, ‘G’

Burney Falls through the trees

Burney Falls about halfway down the trail (my fav pic of the falls)

‘G’, ‘K’, and Crystal’s boy looking at the falls

‘G’, Crystal’s boy, ‘K’, and me at the base of the falls

‘G’, me, Crystal’s boy, and ‘K’ on the trail following the river

Me…posing for the camera

‘K’ and Crystal’s boy on (sort of) the trail

The river from above

The skyline…beautiful area

These were from the little Halloween party we threw for the kids while I was visiting Crystal last week. We had it on Sunday the 16th. (BTW…Kristine and Heather are wearing wigs…lol.)

Kristine (Crystal’s neighbor/friend), Heather (Crystal’s friend), and Me

Me, ‘K’, Kristine and her little boy

All the kids at the table decorating cookies
(clockwise from left: Kristine’s boy, Crystal’s boy, ‘G’, Heather’s 2 girls, and ‘K’)

The kids at the pumpkin patch on Tuesday the 18th
(left to right: ‘G’, ‘K’, Kristine’s boy, Crystal’s boy behind)

Back home since Sunday night about 11:30. Let’s see….where did I leave off? Friday, right? Didn’t do much….LOL. Watched tv that evening…oh and a movie…A Lot Like Love….very cute romantic comedy.

Saturday we went up to Mt. Lassen to hike around for the day. Crystal and I packed up, got the boys ready and headed out. It was about an hour drive there. Once there we ate a picnic lunch, then drove to a spot where a few trails started. We were gonna head to a waterfall area, but first decided to hike up to a sulpher area. We didn’t realize how rugged the terrain would get until we were literally on the side of a mountain. Once we saw a cave-like hole in the rock, we decided to head back, just in case something (a mountain lion) lived there and was just waiting for unsuspecting hikers with small kids. Got back to where we started about 5ish and decided to try to hike to the falls. Didn’t get very far (about twenty minutes of walking time with 2 three year olds) when we had to cross a stream. Got across and saw a mound of bird (duck?) feathers. No blood, but the feathers looked fresh. We decided it was time to head back to the car. The last thing we wanted to be was dinner for some animal. And it was getting late and the boys were getting tired. It was time to go.
Didn’t do much that night. We were too tired and sore from all that walking to do much more than lounge around. Oh, we did watch another movie….The Ring Two….not as scary as the first, but pretty good.

Sunday came around and ‘J’ drove up to take us home. He got there about 3ish. We were gonna spend one more night, but we decided to leave that night since it’s easier to drive (and quieter) when the kids are asleep.
And we got home about 11:30 Sunday evening. I let ‘G’ stay home from school Monday, since we got home so late…and I spent the day cleaning.

I promised to post a few pictures….and that I will do. I’ll create a new post for the Halloween pictures and another new post for the Burney Falls pictures from this summer that we finally got developed.

Not long after hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf coast, hurricane Wilma looms off of the coast of Florida. Emergency officials are now evacuating parts of the Florida mainland and the Keys as well. Wilma has been dubbed the strongest hurricane on record. She went from a Catagory 1 to a 5 within a day and her pressure was at an all time low…882 millibars. She has since weakened a bit to a Catagory 4, but still poses quite a threat to Florida. Read the article here: Evacuations Begin As Wilma Nears Florida

I’ve been up at my sister-in-law’s since last Friday, hence no new psosts. Been kinda busy…LOL. Everyone went to bed early tonight so I have a chance to type.

We left Friday evening (the 14th) around 7:30. ‘K’ was not feeling so good (throwing up earlier in the day) and ended up throwing up a few times during the 3 hour trip. We brought a bowl….coming prepared always helps.
We arrived at Crystal’s about 11:00. ‘J’ slept for a few hours and then left for home about 3:00 am. (He doesn’t have a week off of work like ‘G’ has off of school.)

Saturday and Sunday we stayed home (at Crystal’s) as her husband had the car and was down in Grass Valley (our hometown) for the weekend. He got back earlier than expected on Sunday. Crystal had a couple other friends over (with their kids…about the ages of ours). She was planning on having a small Halloween party this week, since we won’t be up visiting for Halloween. Since the same friends she invited were already here and her husband got home early, we decided to have the party that night. Since ‘G’ didn’t have a costume (’K’s we ordered, but Crystal had something for him to wear for the party) we went to Wal-Mart. Can you imagine 4 women and 6 kids running around?
‘G’ found his costume…a grim reaper, and I found another witches hat (the one I bought last year got left at home…though I did bring my dress). I also found a neat sheer spider-webby hooded cloak that would look awesome over my dress and matched the hat…which was spider-webby, too. I was done. Once everyone got what they needed we headed back home.
We got dressed up (except ‘K’ who didn’t want to), had dinner, the kids got to decorate some cookies and munch on candy. The 3 of us got to drink a little and dance around…making fools of ourselves in front of the kids. Good thing was….they didn’t care…LOL! May have pictures to post later.

Monday night Crystal’s husband watched the boys and she and I went to see The Fog. I’ve seen the original, she hasn’t. It was done really well for a re-make. We both really liked it. Afterwards we went to Blockbuster and rented The Amityville Horror re-make, a movie we’d never heard of called High Tension and Robots for the boys. We watched Amityville after the kids went to bed. I must say, I was disappointed with that one. It was a lot different from the original….a little too much like the more modern horror films like The Ring and The Grudge.

Tuesday afternoon we went to a pumpkin patch. We rode a tractor-pulled wagon around, I took ‘G’ through the corn-field maze, and the boys picked out pumpkins. I had a cold that day, so while it was fun, I was kind of feeling miserable.

We stayed home Wednesday…as now Crystal had a cold and wasn’t feeling too well. We watched Lost and Invasion on tv….and once all the kids were asleep, popped in that other movie. We didn’t know it was foreign until the girls started talking with French accents. It was a gruesome hacker/slasher movie….and really rather weird. Not so much scary as creepy.

Didn’t do much on Thursday…..I was feeling better, but Crystal wasn’t. After her husband got home, she and I went to to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. Watched tv and here I am…typing out my week thus far while everyone’s asleep.

And now it is time to say good-night. My thoughts go out to those in hurricane Wilma’s path.

Wow, I’m doing bad at keeping up on this this month. Only one post (now two) in all of October. What have a I been doing? Let’s see…making Halloween sig tags and filling those requests (samples below), searching at Amazon.com for books….of which 7 of the 10 I ordered arrived yesterday…woohoo!! I’m hoping the other 3 arrive today sometime before we leave to visit my sister-in-law for the week. The books I ordered are God Against The Gods (currently reading, so far very interesting), The Gnostic Gospels, The Mist-Filled Path, The Druids, The Complete Book of Incense, Oils, & Brews, Magical Aromatherapy, Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen, The Celtic Spirit: Daily Meditations for the Turning Year, The Religion of the Ancient Celts, and The Case for Christ (because it was recommended by a “caring” Christian ).
I also recently ordered a set of wooden runes from a guy in England. His site is awesome, briefly explaining the history of runes and he makes a bunch of runic items. You can find his website here: http://www.runemaker.com/runemaker.shtml, and the rune set I ordered here: http://www.runemaker.com/wares/miniset.shtml. This will be my first rune set. I’m so excited!
One other thing I ordered was a Halloween costume for ‘K’. He’s gonna be Buzz Lightyear this year! He’s really excited and can’t wait to get his costume! I was lucky to find that The Disney Store online was having a sale and there were still costumes left in stock.

So anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing for the past week….shopping! Something I rarely get to do….LOL! And tomorrow afternoon we are leaving for Susanville to visit my sis-in-law for a week…well the boys and I, anyway. ‘J’ is coming back down this weekend since he has to work during the week. It’s fall break for ‘G’, so we figured we’d get out of town for the week.

And now… a couple of my recent Halloween tags……

Well, it’s been a while since I blogged, hasn’t? I guess I’ve just been busy. Been trying to catch up on sig tag requests (which I sort of did, but have more piling up daily), and making more tags…Halloween ones now. Then web competitions for site of the year started last week and after not competing in a month, I have been getting back into the groove again. That goes for another two weeks. If you wanna vote and help me up my score, view my site, Witchy Ways, and vote here.
I’ve been looking at Amazon.com lately…wanna get a few books with my babysitting money. (That sounds so jr. high schoolish…LOL.) There’s lots of ancient celtic books that look really interesting (I’ve been interested in studying history…mostly the celts), plus some herbal and general Pagan books.

Tonight…well, last night now…LOL…’J’ and I went out to dinner at Applebee’s and then saw Just Like Heaven. It was a pretty cute movie…sad, funny, romantic. I liked it and so did ‘J’….he actually said “that was a good chick-flick”.

In the news….hear about that earthquake in Asia?? Wow! Earlier the death toll was at 2,000. I just checked the news and it’s at 18,000! Read the full story here. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.