really worth it?

So, I decided to make Halloween cookies tonight. Friday nights are real exciting over here in the Shorty Household.

I spent a total of probably two hours and got 2 dozen cookies.

My kitchen is covered in royal icing, powdered sugar, paper towels, and dirty dishes. AND I have a full dishwasher to unload....just to fill up again with all the junk I used to make the cookies in the first place.
They are KINDA cute....aside from the fact the "pumpkin" cookies look like tomatoes.

They really are more orange in real life. No way was I doing faces on those darn pumpkins....so vines it was. And, they then turned into tomatokins.

Blurry picture...of a crazy messy kitchen.

Will you please come clean it for me?

Happy Halloween ya'll!

Happy Halloween Time!

I have zero new pictures to share.

Since Halloween is around the corner...found a picture of my little ladybug.

From back in the day when I was able to choose for her. This year, she is Ariel.

Was Cinderella and now it is Ariel. Gag me with a spoon. ;)

Trick or treating Sunday evening....Doodle the Poodle will also be dressed up, as Sebastian the Crab from The Little Mermaid.

Is that sick or what?

Maybe I need therapy since I agreed to all of this.

Cute pictures to come. Well....KINDA cute. ;)

Impossible? yep.

Taking pictures of seven 3 and 4 year olds is pretty tough. One smiles - six don't - six smile -

1 won't. Or make silly faces....

Almost everyone smiling here...and my kid sticks out her bottom lip. And one not looking at the camera
not paying attention
Two really good smilers and five not intersted
This is my favorite one....I love how a hand is on a shoulder....too funny.
Love all our friends from play group....they like each other so much.

And, last but not least, my favorite kid.

decor

I am not one for Halloween decorations. No, I am not anti - Halloween....but, just don't go all out with fake grave yard scenes with half dead skeletons crawling out of my weed infested flower beds.

And, for those of you who ARE into Halloween decor, thank you. At least I get to let my kid enjoy the scenery somewhere!

Our Halloween decor consists of a pumpkin on the front porch, a fake plug in jack - o - lantern on the desk in the kitchen, a pumpkin candle, and the cat votive holder.

I thought it was cute. So did my kid. So, we bought it yesterday....and I promptly put a fall scented candle in it....2 hours later, this is what happened.

WHY didn't I realize this would happen? And, WHY did someone MAKE a candle holder with holes in the bottom? No, you can't put a votive in its own holder....too small.

So, my black Halloween kitty barfed pumpkin flavored candle wax all over my kitchen sink.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

temptation....

It was just too much....too much temptation for a 3 1/2 year old.

We promised the kid we would buy her a fish.

So, tonight...we took her to Petsmart and let her select the fish she wanted. She had already named him Dopey before we even owned him.

Brought the fish home, prepared the bowl, washed the multicolored rocks and pink princess castle for the fish (yes, gag me...I know)

We decided to keep the fish in her adjoining bathroom.

She had asked to keep it in the dining room several times...but, pink resin plastic castles in clear bowls don't exactly go with my decor.

So she went with the idea to keep it in the bathroom.

She is an easy child...goes right to sleep...no arguments....never gets out of bed....no whining....

But, tonight was different.

We kept hearing her messing in her room....went in once and found her stirring the fish bowl with her hair clip and had given him enough food for 3 days.

So we cleaned her up....and said that you can't mess with Dopey...only look.

45 minutes later, I hear marble like objects dropping at the foot of her bedroom door...I open the door and she had piled up a hand full of the "decorative" rocks we had purchased for the bottom of Dopey's bowl.

She had changed clothes, several times, and had been "playing" with her fish all evening....while we thought she was asleep.

So, needless to say, Dopey has to find a new home. And, he may loose the castle and resin sea turtle if he is going to live on my antique hutch.

Yep, I am mean...but, I DID buy her a fish.

I haven't laughed that hard in a while....poor kid thought she was in trouble. ;)

Poor Dopey.

finally...she gets it!

On our driveway....kinda downhill.....but, she gets it! Finally learned how to pedal.

Some of her "athleticism" skills seem to be coming from my gene pool. Just takes her a little longer....and is very cautious.....

And, that is AOK!

Ride on!

you probably don't care....

But I had to share pictures of the massive horse I rode today. His name is Cadbury....a Cleveland Bay that is 18.1 hands tall. Basically means that from the ground to wear his neck meets his back he is a little over 6 ft tall.

Look extra special dorky in this picture. Like my helmet? Wish you had one just like it....my head is massive enough as it is. ;)
After the lesson. Think he liked me....we are friends now.

When I picked his hooves up to clean them before we rode....they were the size of small dinner plates. Really.
And...about to put him back in the pasture so he could eat the rest of the afternoon away. Man, that sounds FUN!

Till we meet again Cadbury.....

My first time....

HIKING! My first time to go HIKING people. ;)

So on our trip to the desert mountain west....we went hiking.

And, for those of you who know Shorty and I very well....you can go ahead and stop laughing.

Our trip up north was for business AND pleasure. Who doesn't find gasping for air at above 8,000 feet above sea level fun? Come on....

When Shorty and I called this resort town our home....we only participated in "outdoor activities" aside from golf, like 3 times. Not so good.

So, we had our first time on our trip...and we have been married for 8 years. Think it took long enough? ;)

I wore my running shoes, a tshirt, and some roomy shorts. Shorty had a backpack, some bottled water and a map.

As we were about to embark on the trail....a lady came down....with ski poles...to aid her in her hiking journey. A huge backpack filled with who knows what...and attached to it was a canary yellow plastic whistle. Then, a loud radio message came from her shorts...then I noticed the two way radios.

What? Why on Earth do they need all this? Then, I got nervous.

But, I kept on....following Shorty up the steep hill....to climb to God knows where.

The trees got thicker...and thicker...and the air got thinner....each time a chipmunk ran in front of me...I lost 3 years of my life....I panicked every time.

Moose....huge moose live in those mountains....I kept telling myself this. That one would come out of no where and trample me. I got tears in my eyes...not cause I was crying....just kind of scared.

I have a tendency to over react sometimes when I am in unfamiliar territory. ;)

So, I looked up to my left....and saw a few 14 million dollar homes WAY up on the mountain...so, it calmed me down....then, we saw people...and that calmed me down again.

Then, I was able to take some really beautiful pictures with Shorty's cell phone.

I will post more tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed hearing about my first time.