Halloween bits and pieces

1. We carved our pumpkin a few days ago. Anna requested the shapes for each part of the face and I did the carving. We learned that skinny trapezoids make very scary eyes.
2. For a few months, Anna was torn between being a hula dancer and a cowgirl for Halloween. When it came down to it, though, she decided on being Tinkerbell instead. And then when she unearthed a cheerleading outfit in her room that we came by accidentally, she suddenly wanted to be a cheerleader. But I tried to quell that wishful thinking as soon as I could.
3. To accomplish the quelling, I may have agreed to have a party with just me and her so that she could wear the cheerleading outfit at home and then wear the fairy outfit out trick or treating. I'm pretty sure the party will be awesome.
4. In related news, some words you never want to hear your child say that I heard last week: "Mom, I want to be a cheerleader when I grow up!" Where did this come from?
5. She turned out to be a very cute Tinkerbell, which is not surprising in the least.

She added the gloves and the jewels at the last minute and said, "Now I'm a royal fairy." It called to mind the conglomeration that was last year's costume.

Anyway, I've got to go to bed. Either the day was totally full and fun and exhausting . . . or I'm now on the other side of a sugar high. Or both.

Anna's feelings about stake conference

Several days ago, I mentioned to Anna that we would be going to stake conference today and she groaned. Vehemently. I was pretty surprised by this. When I asked her what the deal was, she moaned, "It's sooooo long!" And it is. I tried to tell her that it would be fun because I would bring snacks and some fun things to do, but she wasn't having any of it.

Then yesterday, she said something about primary and I had to remind her that she wouldn't be going because of stake conference. Again, the groaning. Then she said, with quite the attitude, "Fine, I'll just wear something ugly, then."

I guess that was how she was going to make a public statement about her feelings?

Then today, when getting dressed for said stake conference, she chose a dress that was apparently not ugly enough. She said, "I guess I'll just have ugly hair, then."

I never knew she felt so strongly about it.

Apple Uglies

It's October, and you know what that means. Apple Uglies. I went looking through the archives for some old pictures, and, lo and behold, I realized I have not done a proper post on Apple Uglies. So if you're thinking that I'm talking about my collection of old, shriveled apples, stop right there. I will explain: Every October for as long as I can remember, my family gathers to eat soup out of bread bowls, and then we decorate caramel apples with candy in an attempt to make the ugliest faces. (We've been making apple uglies for so long that the name was even a spoonerism victim once— "appee uggles." Pretty classic, right?) Anyway, we don't just use a little bit of candy but a tableful of beautiful, colorful sugar in myriad forms. (I hate using "myriad" that way, just fyi, but I do it just because it's possible. And while I'm confessing, I'll be honest and admit that one of my favorite parts of the party is separating the candy into the muffin tins. I don't really know why.)

a close-up, in case you're not appreciating the sugar splendor

The candy selection process is very important. Unlike other times, candy for apple uglies needs to be selected based on looks alone. Taste is secondary. Take that gross halloween mix in the bottom right corner of the above picture, for instance. Never would I be caught dead eating any of that, but it can be pretty useful come game day. This is where black licorice, burnt peanuts, candy corn, and the like really get to shine. With a spread like this, the possibilities are endless.

Anyway, I think it's safe to say that the best part of the whole event is chatting it up with the fam and overdosing on sugar, including donuts from Lehi Bakery for dessert [insert coma]. Another "best" part is still demanding to participate even though you're a mature adult and competing against children. I take my creativity very seriously, no matter who gets hurt in the process.

There's a certain artistry to making an apple ugly. Most of the younger kids just pile on the candy haphazardly, while shoveling candy in their mouths by the handful. But us old timers have fine-tuned some tricks over the years and come up with some pretty ugly apples.

Here are a few pictures from the Apple Ugly Days of Yore to give you some idea of what they look like.

This is a good ten-ish years ago when I was in college. I think my apple is in the bottom right corner. I don't know what I was thinking, though, because it's way too cute. (But an A+ goes to Tamra for that face . . . her real one.)

And thanks, Jen, for needing to be in every picture. :D

The results during a girls' trip to New York in 2006. We're so committed that we even made them on vacation. (Mine's the punk apple on the right, the one with the chiclet mohawk and awesome teeth made from starbursts.)

This was a montage from last year my sister put on her blog and put it to a vote. Mine was the adorably ill #5. (I still think I should have won. There's nothing uglier than vomit.)

This year, Anna finally graduated to the age where she actually made a face on her apple (instead of the aforementioned pile o' candy), and she even did a self-portrait, which I think is pretty clever.

Notice the rainbow gummy worms on her apple to match the rainbow hair paint she got at the fall festival?

Anyway, I'm pretty proud of what I came up with this year. As soon as I unloaded a box of these . . .

. . . I had my inspiration for this:

(I think her name would probably be La Volda.) The caramel made the most amazing wrinkly skin, and she kind of reminded me of this lady:

Anyway, happy Apple Uglies, everyone. Make some today. Your blood sugar will thank you . . . for giving it a run for its money.

It's been one of those days.

First, Anna woke up super early and decided to come tell me about how she hurt her shoulder. I'll be honest and say that I didn't care too much, that early in the morning, but I did make some sympathetic noises and hug her—and then I went back to sleep while she played next to me with her toy horse, Vanilla.

Then, as she was getting dressed, I had to step in with some weather-appropriate suggestions for her outfit, since it decided to be cold all of the sudden. She ended up wearing a rainbow t-shirt, a blue skirt, gray patterned leggings, and hot pink boots. And it was the kind of day where she was not open to any fashion advice and insisted on tucking in her t-shirt into her skirt, leggings, AND underwear so that the sparkly star on her skirt would be visible. I tried to be okay with it. I didn't have time to not be, I guess.

It's also been the kind of day where I had to be to an appointment and was a little stressed because I was running a little behind. And it was raining. (That's a given, on days like this.) And then someone rear-ended me at a stop sign . . . and it turned out to be my neighbor . . . who is getting married today. She was very apologetic but very flustered. I surveyed the scene quickly and, since it looked like the worst damage was done to both of our paint jobs, I told her we'd worry about it later. But there went my hairdo, since I had to put on my hood whilst out doing damage control in the rain.

It was also one of those days where your windshield wipers are being temperamental, especially the intermittent one, so you have to keep them on even though the drizzle turns to a spattering and then to nothing at all. But those wipers are staying on because you never know when you're going to get the much-needed intermittent one on again ever. Yep, that was me.

And then the rain stopped and the sun seemed to shine (although metaphorically, because it was still pretty cloudy and gray here).

I browsed through a store on my way home, only to try on a pair of pants, decide to buy them, and then find out that they were $14.99. Yes, please. And then I bought a new purse because, let's face it: when there is more duct tape inside your purse than the original stitching, it's time for a new one. And this was also cheaper than I thought. Yes, again. The shopping planets had indeed aligned.

When I got home, I took Anna to her school's book fair (I always love a good excuse to buy books), and then we sat down to watch some looney tunes together, only to have me fall dead asleep from 5 to 6:00. I couldn't have asked for a better present.

Then, during dinner, I heard Anna utter these words, "Mom, is there anymore squash? That was de-lish!" And then we finished off the meal with a few of these.

So it was the good and the bad, the happy and sad, all rolled into one today. It was exciting but exhausting—one of those days.

A post about books. Imagine that.

We're coming down the homestretch. Two more months until my golden birthday book is done. Cuh-razy. I've been doing a lot of reading lately, A LOT, as part of my research, and I've come across several young adult fiction selections that I've quite enjoyed. (I've been reading a lot of YA, because that's what I'm writing. And it's fun to read.) So I thought I would tell you about a few of them.

1. One of my new favorite authors is Lynne Rae Perkins. I first read Criss Cross, a Newberry book, without knowing that it was the sequel to All Alone in the Universe. I read that second. I probably liked them in that order too, but both were good. I also read As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth, which was okay, but not nearly as good as the first two. Anyway, I just really like her writing. It is straightforward and unadorned but very insightful. I'll admit I'm kind of envious. Perkins also includes pen and ink drawings throughout her books, which just makes them that much cooler. She even writes children's books, and I read a couple of those to Anna. I liked them too. I guess I was kind of smitten with her work there for a while.

2. Savvy by Ingrid Law was another fun Newberry. A great middle grade book. It was a fun read and a clever story, kind of a tall tale, although it didn't do much to refute my belief that in order to win the Newberry medal, you have to write a quirky, small town story, using words like "fizzgiggly" and "foofaraw," or about some kind of troubled ethnic American experience. (Not that the Newberry is my goal, I'm just sayin'.) Regardless, this book was still fun, and I did like how it was set somewhere between Nebraska and Kansas and so the author called it "Kansaska-Nebransas." Clever.



3. Another author I've liked more than once is Karen Cushman. So far I've read The Midwife's Apprentice and Matilda Bone. Liked them both. They were both set in medieval England, which is a time period I don't read much about, so that was fun. Also good middle grade reading.








4. This one is a bit different. I think this summer I read a couple of Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries books and Avalon High. They were light and fun, yes, and probably not exactly the kind of writing I'm doing, but I wanted to read a few from a super huge YA bestselling author, and that she is. But it was a bit painful, knowing that I actually talked to and interviewed her a few years ago for an article I wrote when I was writing for the Daily Herald, and I had no idea who she was. I did a marginal amount of research on her, but I still did not understand her presence in the publishing world. Oh that I could interview her now . . .


Anyway, give some of these a try if you're in the mood or the market. I'm also just starting The Book Thief. I know I'm like several years behind everyone else on this one, so do you have any thoughts about it?

Or do you have any favorite YA books you'd like to share with the class?