Annual Halloween Trick-or-Treater’s Costume Talley!

Good Morning, Baltimore!

It’s that time of year again: the time when people decorate their front lawns with gravestones and hang ghosts in their trees, the time when children frantically scramble to find something special to wear, and the time when some people just hide in their homes in the dark, hoping to avoid answering the doorbell. Christmas, you say? Nope! (Not even close….) That’s right, it’s Halloween!

Every year, I create a chart and mark down how many people come dressed in what costumes. This year, I predicted that there would be lots of fairies (the Tinkerbell movies came out this year, after all), Star Wars characters and super heroes (as there always are), and, well, “scaries” (those people that come dressed as witches and skeletons. You know the type.) Lets see how well I predicted….

Scaries– (lets get them over with!) 8 people. Including a “Candy Corn Witch”. Whatever that is. Cartoons– 2 people. A 5-year-old as Spongebob was one of them. Star Wars– 2 people. A storm trooper and a jedi. Super Heroes– 3 people. Hippies– 3 people. Soldiers–2 people. One was a soviet soldier, I believe. Gangsters– 6 people! We had a LOT of them… You’d think people would know better than to dress like a gangster in Fresno… even if it is national dress-up night. Michael Jackson– 3 people!! And two of them were girls. Haha. I never even guessed that we would have anybody dressed up as him…

We also had a Ninja, a flapper, two Hobbits (boy was I glad to see Merry and Pippin!), two Harry Potters, an Elvis, one Hannah Montana, two doctors, two little toddlers dressed as bugs (a ladybug and a bumblebee) and an Obama(!) with a mask and a shirt that said “Change we don’t need” on it…. I should have given him two pieces of candy.  There were a few people dressed as “others” which means I either knew they were dressed as something but couldn’t figure it out or was too lazy to give them their own category.

However, the prize for largest category (which usually consists of a scathing observation of some sort) is……………….NOTHING! A whopping 9 people did not come dressed up at all! Not that we could tell, anyway. And I am ashamed to say that I gave them candy anyway… but hey, they had John 3:17 on them! Those people need to hear the Word….

Also, the most popular candy-holder by far was…… plastic shopping bags! We had a couple of pumpkin buckets, but there wasn’t a lot of creativity here. And NOBODY even says “Trick or Treat” anymore! A few little kids said it, but for the most part they just rang the doorbell. At least a few said “thank you” when they left.

So that’s what I did on Halloween. We had some folks over to partay with us and eat dinner and [lots of] desert. It was fun. We also used all of the letter cards in Quiddler to make various words, using up every single card– which was our goal. So there you have it.

 

Signing off,

Madelyn Hood

 

P.S.  The tallies recorded here do not include myself or my friends who were present in my home while national costume and candy night was in progress. Each of us were dressed as one of the following: a cowboy (Ben), an army man (Jack), a prairie girl (Emily), a MacDonalds french fry cup (Andrew), a masquerade participant (Ashley– with a mask she made herself that looked very lovely indeed!), and Robin Hood. Of course.

Octopus’s? Octopi? Octopods?

Hello blog readers!

Guess where I was last weekend? San Luis Obispo. We got up at 5:30 and left at 6:30, arriving at about 9:30. (It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen the sun rise. I like it.)

We were staying with an old friend of my parents, Pat, who did a lot of diving with my dad in college.  He is now a rescue diver person, and he goes on diving trips regularly.  Anyhow, there was a “Clean Up the Bay” thing going on by Morro Rock– a once-a-year, volunteer thing.  Divers go down and bring stuff up from the bottom of the bay, beneath the piers– anything that doesn’t belong there.  Mostly beer bottles, piping, chunks of metal, and tires.  Then, other volunteers are on the pier to take it from the divers, get all the little sea critters out of it, wash it off, and send it to the dump.  That’s what my family did. It was SO fun! (Even though it was VERY dirty!)

We put on gloves and went down to the docks to start working.  Here’s a list of some things we pulled up: 92 bottles (beer, liquor, soda, etc.); a tire swing; 8 rubber tires (not including the tractor tires that were down there and they couldn’t bring up– they’d need a crane); a SONY remote control; a radio; a Betty Boop cell phone; 2 plastic crates; a cassette player…. lots of stuff. Last year there was a pellet gun.  Everything in encrusted with barnacles and had various sea vegetation growing on it. There were these weird little plantish things that twitched around, as well as various squishy cream-colored things living on stuff… they seemed like they were the inside of a clam growing on a hard surface, but with a firmer feel to them.  We got to see a bunch of octopi (that’s the plural for octopus).  We saw about 4– they were living in bottles, piping, rubber tubing… it’s amazing the tight spaces they squeeze themselves into! They are really cool. We would get them to come out, and then put them back in the water– it took so long to get them to let go! They thought they were hiding, so they clung to our fingers for a long time. One even changed its color and texture! Pretty sweet. God knew what he was doing when he filled up the ocean. One octopus (one of the biggest) had a bunch of eggs around her in her tube hidaway. At least, that’s what we thought they were.  When we put them in the water, they started moving! It was actually a bucnh of baby octopi! There were about 3 million of them…. CRAZY! I got to hold a few. I wish I could have taken them home… but it would be really hard to keep ‘em alive.

There were little spotted fish, too, that were flopping in one of the crates when a diver brought it up– I tossed ‘em back it. We also saw some starfish (one was a baby no bigger than my pinky nail!!!) and shrimp of various sizes.

Afterward there was a raffle (everyone who volunteered got a ticket– we won a pirate shirt, a snorkel & mask, and a knife– guess who got most of it, lol) and we had lunch at the restaurant next door. Fish and chips, with lots of french fries as well. Tastey!

We were all pretty tired by then– though it was only  about 2:00 we had been working hard, not to mention that waking up before the sun can do that to you. So we went to Pat’s house and Jack got all suited up in Pat’s scuba gear– dry suit, mask, tank, and all– on his front lawn. Mom and I spread out a blanket and rested on the grass. I fell asleep and when I woke up, 2 hours had passed! I haven’t napped like that in a loooonng time.

We went for a walk on the bluffs the next day after church… and two AMAZING MEALS cooked up by Pat. He’s a great cook.

Well, gotta go now… bye!

The Wasteland of Sanity

Hello blog readers… if we still have any. It looks like a desert around here, what with only a few recent posts sprouting here and there. Mostly Shannon’s. Sheesh, I need to get back into the….er… hmm. I don’t have a cliche for that. Back into the drift of things? Back into the…. hmm. Forget it.

So! Summer is officially at an end– since about yesterday. But it’s still hot.

Summer was good. Here are some highlights: Musical Theatre Camp (Welcome to the 60’s) w/ Shannon– marvelous! We had a great time. Ti-dye, ty-dye everywhere… I am still a bit sick of the 60’s. But just a little. Speaking of sick: I got swine flu! So did Shannon, Mrs. Of Sherwood, and other pals of ours. We got it from Theatre camp.  I can tell you that wearing winter pj’s, a robe, slippers, and drinking hot tea inside our 80 degree house and still having goosebumps is pretty weird (it was over 100 degrees outside). But now that the lingering cough and throat mucus is gone, I’m feeling like a celebrity. I mean, I had the swine flu– and lived! Huzzah! Lol.

I’ve done so much it’s hard to cover it all… which is why I should post more frequently! I’ll try to, from now on. School has started, and I’m taking biology– my dad is teaching me and a couple of friends. We are learning about microscopic organisms right now– pathogens, paramecium, anoxyphotobacteria, and Steve. Steve is a little guy we found in some pond water samples. He looks like a cross between a fairy shrimp and one of those “silverfish” bugs. He’s see-through, with a little bit of brown. We added blue stain to the water, but couldn’t find him… I don’t think it stained him blue. Which means that he is “gram-negative”– he doesn’t hold stain. He scurries around really fast under the microscope… fun little guy. Dad says he could be a water-flea.

Anyway. I gotta go watch Fiddler on the Roof. Bye!

We had an accident

– Shannon of Sherwood, adventurer (and not a surrey driver)

Get Ready

You know what I like best about summer?  I like it when friends come to stay with us.  I like it when we go to San Diego with those friends.  I like it when we go to theatre camp with those friends.

Can you guess what will be starting in a week?  I’ll give you a hint: it will involve friends, San Diego, and theatre camp.  :)  It will also involve tie-dying matching T-shirts and earning merit badges.  (Too bad we don’t have any grape soda bottle caps…)  Oh, and listening to summery music and eating ice cream and going to museums and painting.  But most especially, it will involve the Hoods and the Sherwoods having fun together.

Blog-o

Hi-ho, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but no matter, I am throwing myself into the matter with all my weight – at least until I have to do some chores.

ANYWAYS.  Since I blogged here last – which was, let’s see, THREE MONTHS AGO!  I have had a birthday, successfully finished my second semester at the local community college, and gone to two theme parks in one week.  How epic is that?  Pretty muchly epic.  The Hoods and I went to LegoLand!  Oh, look, I have to go do chores.

*later*  So I helped make dinner.  But I was going to tell you about my theme park filled week.  Yes.  Some Mondays, as you may or may not know, are homeschool days at LegoLand.  And as the Hoods and the Sherwoods are homeschooling families, we went!  The first thing we did was get on the boat – the tour boat.  It’s like the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland, only not as jungly.  We saw the wonders of the world – in pixelated form.  It was neat, but it was pretty obvious that we weren’t exactly the target audience of the park.  Hehe.  After the boat we walked around MiniLand, which is where they have all these little scenes of famous places out of Legos.  They had the Las Vegas strip, New York City, San Francisco, and the *gulp* Obama Inauguration.  I took plenty of pictures.  We wandered around for a while before we went on Project X, the only real roller coaster there.  It has this epic drop at the beginning, and the rest of the ride is sharp turns.  It is frightening!  The other “roller coaster,” which is dragon-themed, is kind of lame.  There aren’t even any drops.  It just sort of…rolls.  I guess.  SO.  Then we went to FunLand, and the boys drove the little Lego cars around.  I was happy for them.  They understood the rules of the road, unlike so many of the other children, who ignored stop signs and red lights, and drove on the wrong side of the road!  Jack even made a legal right turn on red – stop, look both ways, go!  It made me so proud.

Then we went to the fire truck “ride” which is not even a ride, it is a workout!  (And I almost got pooped on by a bird while standing in line.)  Basically, two people pump these levers to make the truck move forward, and once you get to the building, you pump more to shoot water at a “burning window,” and you can only pump your way back once the flames drop.  We got so tired!  We went into the store where you can buy Legos by the brick, and we decided to make a frog.  It turned out really cute!  After that we were so hot and tired that we thought it would be a good idea to get some of the yummy-looking “magic swirl” soft-serve they were advertising.  It turned out to be not-that-great.  It didn’t taste like real ice cream or the flavor it was supposed to have on it.  I had raspberry but it was more like red sugar.

On the upside, we did get In-n-Out afterwards.  =)

~ Shannon of Sherwood, a.k.a. Mama Goatherd

Rockstar Phil

Hiya folks!

I went to a Phil Wickham concert last night– It Was Fun! When we got into the room it was all hazy from fog machines. Like there had been A LOT of people smoking. They had lots of lighting effects, but I think the guy who is in control of the screens needs to actually know the songs or something. He kept putting up the wrong lyrics. Not like I care a lot, I mostly know the songs. Anyway.

Before Phil, though, there was this guy called Charlie something… don’t remember his last name. He was funny, and he had a loooonnnggg pointed beard. It almost looked like he stuck it on. But he’s cool.

Then, after a ten minute intermission, Phil came on.  They played dramatic music for a while. And then some more. All while Phil had his back to us. Lights flashed and stuff. Then he started doing his warm up/battle cry/chant thing. I’m not sure if it’s in English or what. Next time I see him I need to ask about it.  So then we sang and rocked out with him. It was a really good worship. I’m so glad we can sing songs about God whenever we want to, unlike China. Heh, he calls us “Fresnations”. Oh yeah! At the end he sang a song from his new album that will come out in September. I almost cried. It was beautiful. It doesn’t have a name yet, but he was thinking “Heaven Song”, “Restless”, or “Clovis”. Just joking.

I can’t wait!!!!!!!

Robin Hood…

So. How is everyone?

The Hoods are good, very good actually. The Of Sherwoods have gotten my brother and I hooked on the BBC Robin Hood– It is really good. I enjoyed it immensely. The dialogue is fantastic, the action is epic, and the characters endearing. Even the evil ones. Okay, maybe not…. Erg! You get the picture. The relationships are very complicated… Here are my thoughts on characters.

Robin Hood: Great guy, fantastic with a bow and arrows, likes to help the oppressed peasants of Nottinghamshire. He is also extremely clever. Really. Can be rather obstinate, but his actions are always more or less justifiable.

Much: Love this guy! It makes me sad how the rest of the “gang” treats him, though, even Robin. I mean, he seems to end up being the scapegoat, sorta. He’s pretty good about it, though.

Alan a Dale: Funny person. Made me sad that he betrayed the gang, but he turned out to be good in the end. Go Alan!

The Sherif: Interesting man. As a villain, he was hardly steriotypical. I mean… Hmm. I can’t really describe him. He is really smart and deadly-evil. <.<

Marian: TOTALLY AWESOME! A little bit annoyingly strong-headed at first, but she grows on you. She has awesome fighting skills. I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. To bad she had to DIE. She was good. One of my favorite characters.

and last but not least….

Guy of Gisborne/Gisbourne: Well, let me start out by saying that I was first introduced to the actor in a different movie where he was the hero. So I had conflicting emotions when he stabbed someone or did something evil. Like when he tried to kill the king. Naughty Guy! At first I really wanted Guy and Marian to get married. Well, I wanted him to become a Good Guy first. And then marry Marian. But Robin likes her so much… and Guy likes/liked her so much…. I was really proud of him when he would do something heroic. I’d give a cheer… He really needs/needed to learn that ladies like the heroic type better than the evil glowering type. But, hey, IIt went kinda like this:

Sherif: Guy, go burn down this village. Guy: Okay. Marian: No! Don’t do it! It’s wrong! Guy: Well, I sorta kinda gotta do it… but would you like me to take you out for dinner sometime? Marian: …. Guy: I’ll take that as a “yes”. Marian: Wait! I’d like you better if you didn’t kill innocent people! Guy: *stops in tracks with burning torch in hand*….Really?

Then two figures appear on either of Guy’s shoulders– a Guy with a harp and halo and a Guy with a pointy tail and horns.  Good Guy: Who does that Sherif think he is, bossing you around like that! It obviously doesn’t do your relationship with Marian any good! Bad Guy: Hey, he’s got the power. Just go burn the village down. The people probably deserve it anyway. And I’m sure Marian will be attracted to you anyway; you’re so hot! Guy: Uhh…. Sherif: Gisborne! What’s taking you so long!?

 

Sometimes he is Good Guy, other times, he is Bad Guy. And much to my despair, Bad Guy seems to win out more often than not.

But I have to go take a walk now. Farewell, until I blog again…

~ M. Hood

I can’t help myself!

Will got an iPod Touch for Christmas, and he has been adding pointless wonderful applications – that’s the little games and other programs that make the Touch “the funnest iPod ever.”  Many of his apps I find no amusement in, but others I like very much.  For example, his Bejeweled game.  I am addicted to that game!  Just keep clicking the matching jewels!  Presto!  High score!  Yes, it’s very much fun.  But my favorite – my very, very favorite app of all time is (drum-roll please) iPity!  What in the world is iPity, you ask?  Well.  Let me show you:

It’s Mr. T.  You tap his face and he tells you to SHUT UP FOO!  Or I’MA FORGE NEW AND WONDROUS THINGS UPSIDE YOUR HEAD!  And it just keeps going.  Random Mr. T sayings popping up into daily conversation? Yes please.  The best part is, it it even spells it out for you, as you can see – phonetical spellings?  Yes please.

(“Yes please” is my new favorite phrase.)

So as you can see, the iPod Touch (Will’s is named Touchy Brick) is most definitely the most useful iPod out there.

Just so you know

Phil Wickham is amazing. He also makes references to Narnia all over the place, which just makes him even more awesome.

^^concert @ mon eglise last June^^