Halloween Haiku

Happy Halloween! Last weekend, we went to the Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree, AZ. Gretchen wanted to visit a real pumpkin patch, and Shawn saw a blurb about the festival in Carefree. We kinda thought it would be more of a pumpkin patch than it was; it was also very crowded. They had a cool old west village inhabited by jack-o-lanterns and live music, food and fun merchandise, but no place to buy pumpkins.

On Sunday Rachael, Gretchen and I went to Wal-mart; we needed to get the weekly shopping done and the past few years it is where we picked up our pumpkins. Well there were none to be seen there either, so I sent a text to Shawn to make a trip over to Sprouts for our carving pumpkins. His trip was a success!

Mom’s and Gretchen’s (cat on bottom) jack-o-lanterns

Carve jack-o-lanterns
Halloween is tomorrow
Never give mom a knife

But by the time we all got home Sunday night and cooked dinner, we were too tired to carve. Gretchen and I worked on our pumpkins Monday night. Gretchen was a little uncomfortable with the sharp knife Mom handed her and had me cut the top off the pumpkin. She backs away pretty far whenever I have hold of a sharp knife. But once I got the pumpkin open for her, she gutted it and while I was busy working on mine apparently she lost her fear of sharp knives or figured Mom wasn’t good at detail carving, because she cut out the outline she drew on her pumpkin without any issues.

 

Rachael and Mom at Carefree pumpkin festival

Pumpkin festival
Fun night of mischief making
Famous duo framed

 

Shawn at Carefree Pumpkin Festival photo effects Facebook

Infamous prankster
Enchanted pumpkin garden
Famous Shawn Hosking

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Thumb of a Tale

Tale of painful thumb
Recount cooking incident
Yearns for sympathy

As I was cooking dinner last night, I felt a shooting pain in my right thumb. I wasn’t even using my right hand. 96% of the time it is just a forgotten appendage. I’m not sure what I did to cause the pain, life with cerebral palsy; however, most of the time it is my right foot or leg causing me pain. As I need it to walk it’s a little harder to ignore. When Shawn came home, I was telling him the story. I was prepping dinner and oh… (small pause as I tried to remember exactly what I was doing when the thumb started hurting.)

Shawn looked over, Did your thumb just fall off? I start laughing; No, I was trying to remember what I was doing when it started hurting. If my thumb fell off wouldn’t there be blood spurting about? And how would one’s thumb just fall off? Well I guess I can pause for dramatic effect well when spinning a yarn. 😉

October Disappearing Fast

 

Days dissolve quickly
First blog post in October
Busy holiday

The second week of October was fall break. Rachael had no school Monday and Tuesday; Gretchen had off the entire week. Saturday October 6th, Poppo flew down for the vacation time. Sunday we went over to Barnes & Noble – a tradition for this family of readers. Then we had dinner at Claim Jumpers. Monday we drove out to Scottsdale to visit with Caitlin. The first picture is me at P.F.Chang’s – the one in Scottsdale has an art sculpture kaleidoscope. Then Tuesday Rachael had work; we had to take Gretchen over to the orthodontist to fix her permanent retainer. We picked up some breakfast at McDonald’s and then went back out to Scottsdale in the afternoon. We picked up Caitlin and drove over to Tempe to see Rachael’s apartment. Shawn came over from work and we all ate at Oregano’s. Gretchen got the boneless Buffalo chicken. Then she treated everyone to StarBuck’s with her gift cards from the orthodontist.

Wednesday Shawn took Gretchen’s leftovers from Claim Jumpers to work for lunch. Rachael was back to school. Poppo, Gretchen and I spent the day at home until Gretchen’s eye appointment and then we went to Yogurtini. Thursday Gretchen wanted to go to the butterfly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens. The three of us spent a couple hours there; Gretchen and I even got to release new butterflies into the garden. Then we went back to ASU to get Rachael for lunch. The three of us at Dilly’s Deli in Tempe. Thursday was the day Shawn took Gretchen’s Buffalo chicken to work.

First leftovers snatched
Rachael buys more on Friday
Dad strikes second time

On Friday Gretchen asked how to heat up her chicken. Umm… what chicken? My leftovers from Oregano’s. You don’t have any leftovers; Dad took them to work. Later I tell Rachael about the incident and she goes over to Oregano’s and gets more chicken before heading home. So Gretchen got more chicken. Everyone was raving about it; I had to try a bite. They are delicious. Rachael and Gretchen shared the order Friday night and there were a few leftover. Saturday Rachael had some for lunch and left a couple for Gretchen once she got home from school. Well Dad saw them in the fridge and ate them AGAIN! I told him we’re going to tape a big – Dad, Do NOT touch! on the next order!