The costume

Whelp, the holiday took an interesting turn. Anna has been under the weather but we were holding our breath to see if she'd be better by today. Turns out, she has strep. So the dinner plans got rearranged and we were going to give trick or treating the boot, but she was surprisingly chipper by the time evening rolled around. So we dressed her up and I pulled her in the wagon to exactly five houses. One lady gave Anna several handfuls of candy, because she loves her, so it was like she was out all night. Almost the perfect Halloween.

Here's her three-part bird costume (part peacock, swan, and phoenix):

I love all of the poses she selected. As for my tooth fairy costume, I rocked it. Too bad I don't have a good picture of me rocking it. You'll just have to imagine how amazing my giant-toothbrush-for-a-wand was.

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And don't forget to visit Writing With Ashley. This week, I post about dealing with distractions, like what to do when you're becoming more familiar with IMDB than your current work in progress.

Halloween Haberdashery

After I stopped being a kid, Halloween was decidedly less fun. Still fun, but less so. But now that Anna's getting older and getting into it, it has become super fun again. She loves planning her costume and scheming about all the candy she's going to get. She's even sort of into the scary stuff, which is new this year. Not like full-blown haunted houses, but she's totally loving the spiders and bats and creepy food.

In fact, here's the dinner menu we dreamed up for tomorrow:

• blood and guts (spaghetti)
• hairy witch fingers (parmesan breadsticks)
• broccoli (because it's good for you)
• and used q-tips (mini marshmallows dipped in melted butterscotch or peanut butter chips)

I can't wait. It's going to be awesome. There are so many good things about this holiday: the fact that it's really focused on going house to house and getting candy, apple uglies (click here if you don't know what awesomeness I'm referring to), other good food, eating all of the halloween candy before Halloween, costumes, movies, getting more candy when your child goes trick or treating . . . The list could go on and on.

Speaking of apple uglies, here are the apples we did this year, just so we have a record of the annual awesomeness.

If my hunches are correct and that red licorice rope is supposed to be head gear (like she even knows what that is), I think Anna's totally wins for ugliest. Mine might win for most inedible (since the paper got stuck to the caramel), but what was I supposed to do? He needed a cape!

Now for a bit about movies. Like I said, we're not fully into the scary stuff of Halloween yet, but I look forward to the day when we can watch Wait Until Dark or some Hitchcock together.

But that's as far as I go because I'm a complete pansy when it comes to scary movies. I hate them. Being haunted by the images from The Ring for the next month after I saw it really solidified this decision. There is just no reason to make myself sit through something like that.

So that's creepy/demented scary, but what about movies that are surprise scary? Still hate them. I made this decision around the time I saw What Lies Beneath. I even went to see When a Stranger Calls a few years later when I doubted this decision, but that was the last "scary" movie I've seen (besides the mild ones I can handle). I'm serious about it.

Anyhow, that's a little bit of fun we've had so far. More to be had tomorrow. Check back soon to see how mondo cool our costumes turned out.

Thrilling Thursdays, remember?

This week on Writing With Ashley, I share a part of the revising process that was rather eye opening, for me: words I used too much. You can use the link below or click on the typewriter in the sidebar.

Go there now.

80s Pop Quiz

I know there are a lot of "You Know You're a Child of the 80s if . . . " posts and email forwards out there (back when people forwarded emails), but three specific things happened this last week that transported me back to my very own 80s childhood. To see if you had the same one I did, how about a quiz?

1. When was the last time you said the word "grody"?

I don't really remember ever saying this, but I heard it often enough. (And, to be honest, it was probably more 90s.) But Anna used it the other day and asked me if it was a real word, and it was SO weird to be reminded of it.

2. Do you remember Popples? The stuffed bear/marsupial (?) toys that could tuck themselves into their own little pouch? Better yet, did you own a Popple?

Not only did I own a popple (the lavender one, I believe), I also owned a Popple lunch box. Total awesomeness. This came up in a conversation about cool lunch boxes, which I haven't had the need to think about since about third grade.

3. Do you remember the show Lady Lovely Locks?

I don't remember the show so much as an awesome coloring book I had. But I'm pretty sure I haven't even thought of her since 1988. Anna and I were searching for something on Youtube, and a clip of the show came up and it was like I was Christopher Reeve looking at the penny. So we watched it, and she's a new fan.

Big News

I mean, BIG NEWS. I decided my writing posts needed a home of their own, so I created a blog just about my writing. Fancy that. Meet writingwithashley.blogspot.com.

I will be posting weekly on this new blog, so now your Thursdays will be even more thrilling. Writing with Ashley definitely won't have as many cute pictures of Anna or as many names of old ladies, but it will still be fun. 

Go on over and check it out and get an update on how THE BOOK is going (and find out its title!) and where I am on the road to publishing awesomedom. (And yes, I will be using this phrase anywhere and everywhere I can. Probably until I arrive at said place and people tell me not to use it anymore because it's a little embarrassing and it wasn't even that cool in the first place.)

Hot fudge from heaven

One of my all-time favorite desserts is a simple one: really good vanilla ice cream topped with really good hot fudge. (Some might call it a hot fudge sundae.) You can go fancy with the vanilla, but for everyday use, I like Breyers' extra creamy all natural vanilla. Regular Breyers ice cream sometimes has an airy texture that I find less appealing, but the extra creamy version takes care of this and the "all natural" bit is just an extra pat on the back. They have a pretty good vanilla bean version too.

But the best part about this vanilla ice cream is the layer of homemade hot fudge you drizzle on top. Here's a favorite recipe.

HEAVENLY HOT FUDGE

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 3/4 cups heavy or whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons butter (no substitutions)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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DIRECTIONS

1. Chop chocolate. In 2-quart saucepan, combine cream, sugar, honey, butter, salt, and half of chocolate. Heat on medium 5 minutes or until bubbles form at edge, stirring with wire whisk. Reduce heat to low; simmer 10 minutes, whisking often.
2. Remove from heat. Whisk in vanilla and remaining chocolate until mixture is smooth. Cool 5 minutes or until thickened slightly, whisking often. Serve warm over ice cream.