Happy Early Halloween!

Hey, Friends. 

I know it's a bit early, but Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. A lot. 

Every year at work they have a potluck lunch. I'm never there, as I'm always on vacation.  This year will be no different. 

However, I do have a meeting tomorrow at the main branch, so I decided to make some creepy treats to start their celebration a little earlier than planned. 

 

Oh yeah. I made them serial killer cupcakes. Death by chocolate, if you will. 

You enjoy your treats, kids. 

I'll be heading to Texas. Halloween also happens to be my brother's birthday. Makes October the perfect time to visit!

I'll be in shorts on the beach.  You enjoy that possible snow in the forecast. A treat for me, maybe a trick for you -- depends on how much you miss me. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hey, Friends.

It's been a rough last couple of days for people around here. I'm not going to go into details, but it hasn't been happy times.

It has taken a toll on one friend in particular.

She always, always is willing to do whatever to help someone out.  She does it without thinking about it, or expecting anything in return.  It's as natural as breathing.  She draws little pictures and leaves notes as surprises to cheer people up.  She randomly picks flowers and leaves bouquets at work just to make the break room a little nicer for everyone.

She does all of these extra little things without fanfare, just to put a smile on the face of others.

So when she mentioned in passing (before things hit the lowest point today) that she loves peanut butter cookies?  You can bet I'm going to make sure she gets some -- double peanut butter, to be exact.
It's not much.  They aren't magic cookies that are going to erase all of the bad things and problems.

Maybe, just maybe, they will make things seem a little less shitty for moment.  Maybe not.

I appreciate her friendship, and all of the little things she does. Spending a few minutes on a Friday evening to make cookies as a surprise?  That's the absolute least I can do.

Always take time to be thankful for your friends and loved ones.  Count your blessings. Things can change when you least expect it.  Don't miss out on an opportunity to let the people you care about know how important they are to you.

Fun at the Farm

Hey, Friends.

What do you do on a beautiful October day when you don't have to work?  You go apple and pumpkin picking! Well, that's what my friends and I decided to do today. Where did we go?  To DuBois Farms, of course!  That's where I always go when I have time.  It's lovely. (Full disclosure: my friend's sister and her husband own the place.  I'm slightly biased on this topic. You should still go and check it out if you live in the area -- it was voted Best Pick-Your-Own in the Mid-Hudson Valley.)

Seeing as it is a farm and all, we decided our first stop had to be the petting zoo to see the animals.

The baby alpaca is adorable when it runs!

Pigs, having a snack

Then it was time to get down to business and pick some apples!

Yeah, we aren't reaching those.

Yeah -- people really are assholes and will just throw them on the ground.  Poor apples.

We can totally reach these, though!

Someone (who shall remain nameless) decided that she really wanted the red apples that were near the top of the tree.  What to do?  No sticks to pick them with, so I volunteered to be the Official Tree Climber and Reacher of Red Apples.  I may also have been the only one crazy enough to have volunteered to do it.  

I am up there...I just blend.  Like apple tree camouflage.

We also picked grapes.  Well, mostly I picked grapes.  Way more grapes than I probably need, but I love them so they will be eaten.

Yum!

You can't go and not get a pumpkin.  It's October.  Kind of required to go pick a pumpkin at some point.

So many pumpkins!

I picked mine because I liked his stem.  

So cute, and happily living on my front steps.

They also had flowers that you could pick.  Sadly, the sunflowers are no more, but they still looked pretty cool in my opinion.

Former flower

The other flowers were gorgeous:

Flowers on the farm

The butterfly agrees!

So, two of us decided to pick bouquets.  They really were beautiful flowers.  Let's start with mine, shall we?

I think they look cool.  I had another reason for choosing them as well.  I'm pretty sure that when I inevitably forget to water them and they die, they will look good when they are dried.  That's thinking ahead, Friends.  I recognize my weaknesses, and one happens to be keeping flowers alive.

Our fancy bouquets!

I believe the conversation that followed went something like this:

Friend: Take a picture of both of them!  My flowers are so pretty!  Tammy, it looks like you just picked a bunch of thistles!

Me: Just two different styles. My flowers are awesome!

We are so mature.

My flowers are awesome.  Jut admit it.

It was an excellent day!  We had a great time, ate some delicious food, and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

I will, however, remember to bring a hair tie next time.  It was a tad bit windier than I had anticipated, so I spent a lot of time trying to keep my hair from doing this:

Definitely need to pull the hair back next time.

Avocados? Really?

Hey, Friends.

Did you ever find yourself ripped out of what seemed to be a very nice dream by the obnoxious beeping of your alarm clock?  That's how I started my day yesterday.  Now, before your minds go straight to the gutter, it wasn't that type of nice dream.  It was more that I woke up feeling relaxed and as if all was right in my little corner of the world, and just a tiny bit pissed off with my alarm for waking me up.

I'm sure you don't recall, but as we previously covered in my weird licorice dream, I don't normally remember anything about my dreams, so when I do it is super exciting to me.  Buckle in, kids, while we take a little wander through my dream.  It'll be like a group project where we all interpret the strange realms of my sleeping brain.  What -- that doesn't sound like a fun time to you?  Feel free to go find your own fun in a place that is elsewhere.

Okay, Friends:  to be fair, I only remember the tiniest smidgen of the dream from right before the alarm went off.  We don't have a whole lot of material to work with, is my point.  Although, oddly, it does involve food once again.

Begin dream sequence....if this was a movie, there would be special effects here.....

I was in a kitchen -- a very nice kitchen which clearly was not my own.  There was a big, white island in the middle of the kitchen.  Think of the way kitchens look on HGTV  if you need a mental image.  I was standing at the island with a guy that, in my dream, I apparently was friends with although I couldn't see his face.  His face was all blurry, like when they try to disguise someone's identity on a tv show.  I could tell he had dark hair, and was taller than me. We were both wearing black v-neck t-shirts, and I could see up as far as his neck before the blurriness started.  Made perfect sense to have matching outfits in the dream.

What were we doing at the kitchen island?  Cutting up avocados to make guacamole, and giving each other a hard time about doing it the wrong way.  That quickly turned into a friendly disagreement about who had the best -- and therefore correct -- way to make guacamole.  These weren't serious arguments.  We were joking around and teasing each other.  The very last thing I remember before my alarm went off was thinking he was about to playfully smoosh avocado on the end of my nose for some comment I had made about his guacamole-making skills, or lack thereof.

Fade back to reality as dream sequence ends....

Yeah.  I told you I didn't remember very much about it.

My first thought, after being slightly pissed off at my alarm clock, was that I was still in a pretty good mood.  I was highly amused by the antics I could remember from my dream.  As I dragged myself from bed and started to assemble the all-important coffee, I decided I would have to Google some things when I was a little more with it.  Even to my pre-coffee brain that seemed like an odd dream to have because:

1) I have never actually been in a kitchen that looked like the one in my dream. I should maybe not watch HGTV right before going to bed.

2) Avocados?  Guacamole?  Where the hell was I pulling such random choices from?  I love avocados, don't get me wrong, but I've literally made guacamole maybe twice in my life. I had to use a recipe both times.  I normally buy that shit at the store.  I was also unaware that I had opinions on guacamole and how best to process an avocado.

3) I'm cooking in my dreams.  I'm not a terribly good cook when I'm awake.  Oh, I love to bake, but cooking actual meals is not my strong point.

Before I had a chance to Google anything, I was chatting to a friend about my weird avocado-guacamole dream.  She had some thoughts, but not a great deal of insight to offer.  We'll cover those first.

--Maybe I was just really craving avocados, or have some sort of vitamin deficiency that my body wants me to fill.  Maybe, but that's not a fun answer.

--Who was the guy?  You should find him!  I don't know, and it would be terribly hard to find someone whose face was blurred out.  If you can figure out how to do that Friends, let me know!

--I should Google the significance of black, since we were both wearing it in the dream.  It was probably a bad omen, like something horrible is going to happen in a kitchen.  No.  Just, no.  I happen to love the color black, which she knows.  (Followed closely by green, for those interested.)  It's elegant, simple, and a tad mysterious.  It's also incredibly practical as black matches everything.  A large portion of my wardrobe consists of black clothing.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that the shirt I was wearing in my dream was the same one that I had worn to work on Thursday.  Sorry Friends.I'm just going with the fact that I love the color black, not doing research on it.

Maybe it really was something as simple as me craving avocado, or wanting to make guacamole.  I don't know.  I decided to hit up Google anyway since it seemed pretty random.  I decided to start with the part I thought would be more likely to have a result -- that I was cooking in my dream.

Cooking, as it turns out, is a pretty good thing to dream about.  I checked a few different places to compare the answers. (Why yes, I am kind of a nerd!)  To try and keep it brief, it can symbolize creativity.  It can also mean new opportunities, security, or wanting to make people happy.  Works for me!  If you've had a dream about cooking yourself, or are just really interested in this, this page pretty much covers it all.

Now, moving on to the avocado part of it.  This is where it gets a little interesting, Friends.

I honestly kind of expected Google to give me results that politely told me that I was being stupid and wasting my time. I clicked on the first link expecting to see a page that said something like, "Seeing an avocado in your dream symbolizes nothing.  It's a fucking avocado.  Go buy one at the store and get over it."

Yeah.  That's not even remotely what I got.  Apparently avocados can mean a lot or things.  Who knew?

"To see or eat an avocado in your dream symbolizes lust, sexuality, fertility, potential, and continuity of life. Alternatively, an avocado symbolizes richness and indulgence."

From this page, right here.

"Avocado is one of the essential ingredients for a healthier skin. Thus, sometimes these dreams give us signs about our health conditions. For instance, to see a fresh thick avocado in dream means that you will enjoy good health. Fruits, especially avocado also relate our sexual desires. Avocados are also a source of energy and thus to see a fresh avocado in dream is a sign of positive energy. A ripened avocado in leaves is also a very good sign. It indicates prosperity and good luck. Feel happy about this dream as there is some good news around. "

From: this age, although I did fix some spacing issues.

WTF.  So, apparently I want to jump Mr. Blurry Face With the Dark Hair.  And here I didn't think it was that kind of a dream.  Moving right along...

The next website just generally confused the hell out of me.  Apparently the avocados could mean that: I felt great, felt secure, no worries, lots of people that support me, and I'm not jealous.  However, it could also mean that I'm abusing all of the people who support and love me, that I have enemies who I am being too nice to and will use that fact against me, and that I am jealous and want to destroy people.  I'm not even going to link to it because it was a hot mess.

This last one might be my favorite because it is short, sweet, and to the point.

"Relates to harmony and peace."

From: this page.

I weeded out a lot of flotsam there, Friends.  Total shit websites that try to hijack your browser, or have a shit-ton of pop-up ads.  Then there was the totally inapplicable meanings like, "A proposal is on the way!" Yeah.  Seeing as I'm single I don't think that is terribly likely. I think my favorite bit of silliness was that it could symbolize the 1970s because avocado was a popular color during that time period.

Alrighty.  So maybe Mr. Blurry Face With the Dark Hair has some answers.  Let's Google that shit.

Unsurprisingly, the most popular answer is that it is someone I don't know.  Second most popular is that it really is someone I know, and I should not trust him.  My subconscious is trying to tell me I am being deceived.  Heartwarming.

What have we learned today, Friends?  Beyond the fact that I have odd dreams, I mean.

1) Avocados are way more sexually charged than I ever gave them credit for.

2) I think I'm going to be relaxed, really creative, and lucky?  I'm trying to combine the cooking and avocados on that one.

3) Someone I know could be trying to deceive me, oh happy day.

For what it's worth, I take none of this seriously.  Everyone can interpret things the way they want.

Personally, I'm going to choose the good vibes and hope it means that I am going to meet Mr. Blurry Face With the Dark Hair, who apparently also likes the color black.  We are going to make sexually-charged guacamole, and it will be awesome!

Getting That Post-Apocalyptic Feeling

Hey, Friends.

As the month of September just came to an end, it's time for another post about my super-awesome book group.  Do these things bore you?  If so, you've got to let me know.  It is, however, what we are talking about here today, so feel free to bail out now if this isn't your thing.

This month we discussed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.  If you haven't read the book (and are too lazy to click on that link I gave you to Amazon to read the blurb there), let me share the description from the publisher's website:

"Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end. 

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed."

Everyone in the group loved this book.  It may sound rather dire when you read the description, but we were all left feeling somewhat optimistic and hopeful for the characters and the world at the end of the book.

You know what's coming next, Friends.  I get to have my fun trying to capture the feeling of the book for the decor and refreshments.  I love this part!  I like trying to surprise the group members by coming up with something they weren't expecting.  I'm not going to share the links to my past creations again -- you want to see those you can click on the "book group" tag at the bottom and it should take you to the other posts.  Well, I think it will.  It should, if I didn't screw it up.

Trying to shop for post-apocalyptic decor can be interesting all on it's own.  I'm pretty sure I had it much easier since all of the Halloween decorations are out in the stores.  I have also learned that the combination of things that I am buying at one time can make people curious.

My evening thus far. pic.twitter.com/DG81Q48yWE

— Tammy (@tammyshampoo) September 28, 2016

So that happened. Totally worth it though, as I think the final product came out pretty sweet.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.  I took them just for you, Friends.

First, let's take a look at the whole table.

Ignore the pretty colors on the floor.  We were having the apocalypse in the children's programming room....which might make it more unsettling.

Now let me try to explain what you are seeing on the table...

Why yes, I did mix skeleton parts and children's gift bag toys.

A lot of people died during the pandemic.  The Georgia Flu wiped out 99% or the population.  Most of the book's action takes place 20 years later.  There is no power, no gasoline, no medications for even the simplest injuries.  You still find bodies everywhere -- in bathrooms, in abandoned houses, in cars stuck on the highway where people where trying to escape.  The skeleton arm represents that aspect.  The toy instruments are the best I could do for the Traveling Symphony.  I thought they were cute!  People have once again begun to grow their own food to survive, hence the veggies.

Chocolate chip cookies and random beverages

You might be wondering how chocolate chip cookies would have survived the apocalypse.  They didn't.  They survived as memories of the people who lived through the pandemic and were old enough to remember them.  There was a bit in the book where one of the characters said they still dream of chocolate chip cookies sometimes, so I decided to include them.  Who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies?  The individual beverages were my attempt at making it look like a random assortment that might have been found in an abandoned convenience store.  

Related reading, for those interested

You might be wondering why there is a quote from Star Trek on the poster board.  It is from Star Trek, but it is also the motto of the Traveling Symphony.  I also like to include related books for people to check out if they are interested.  It's kind of expected since this is a library.

Ignore the parking lot in the background -- it's a graveyard

I wanted to include the graveyard from the settlement of St. Deborah By the Water. Originally I had planned to stage it outside the entrance to the room, but that had to change when we ended up in the children's area.  I didn't want to freak out any of the little kids who might be in the area to play and check out books.  Windowsill was the best I could do.

And now for the finishing touch!  I'm a little bit proud of this part, Friends.  I wasn't sure if it was actually going to work, or if the group would go along with my zany idea.  

Book group by candlelight

Since there was no electricity in the book, I decided we weren't going to use any at book group either. That should definitely help set the mood!  I can't exactly use real candles -- fire department would frown upon that and it would set off the sprinkler system -- so I used a ton of LED candles and a couple of lanterns.  Best part?  Everyone was cool with it and we totally had the discussion by candlelight.  My book group is awesome!

Another successful book group.  I highly recommend the book, if you like that kind of thing.  If you are doing a book discussion of your own, feel free to steal my ideas!  I'm sure I'm not the first person to have come up with them.  Sometimes it makes it easier to take the idea and run with it once you have seen that it can work, or has potential.

I Can't Believe That Worked!

Good Morning, Friends!!

I apologize in advance if this is just one chaotic ramble.  It's early, I haven't had much coffee yet, and I'm super excited.  I probably shouldn't be attempting to type anything at this point -- not sure my fingers are really awake yet.

Prepare to share in my moment of joy....

The spider is gone!!!!

I don't even know how that is possible.

Sure, I threatened it and wrote it a nasty letter.  Did anyone really think that was going to work, Friends?  No, no we did not.  Last I knew spiders did not speak English, and they certainly didn't go online and read blog posts.  (Although they do spend a lot of time on the web.  Sorry.  Had to be said.)

I actually figured it was going to go all Charlotte's Web and create some huge and creepily beautiful web all over my back steps. Probably with a message telling me to f%&k off, or a picture of it giving me the finger.

I mean, it's totally gone.  No sign of the spider, not a trace of its web left.  Like it just vanished, or was a scary figment of my imagination to begin with.

The Interloper (neighborhood feral cat) was outside giving me the sad eyes, waiting for breakfast.  I was hesitant to even open the back door and see what the spider had gotten up to last night.  I was fully prepared to only use the front door today if the spider had hunkered in and made a huge web.

But there is no spider.  There is no web.  There's not even a trace of the web that I know it had built yesterday.

This is amazing!  I can't tell you how happy I am about all of this, Friends!

How did this happen?

--Did someone I know sneak over here in the middle of the night and vanquish my spider foe for me? If yes, then I love you and will buy you many gifts!

--Did it get too chilly outside, and the spider decided to leave for a more suitable climate?  Fine by me, as long as it didn't include moving into my house.

--Did a neighborhood critter decide it looked like a tasty treat and chomped the spider up as a delicacy?  Bon appetit! Feel free to eat all the spiders you can find.

--Maybe The Interloper cleared it out in thanks for getting fed breakfast every day.  I doubt that, but it's still a possibility.

--Or maybe the spider really did understand what I said to it.  In which case I am slightly freaked out that there is a super-smart, English speaking spider living on my lawn that may or may not be pissed off with me. Not really....but you can bet it will cross my mind if it shows up again at some point in the near future.

Friends:  the spider is gone!  This is already turning out to be an awesome day!!

You Have 24 Hours to Move On

Hey, Friends.

So, remember how I dislike abhor detest hate spiders?  Like, I seriously fucking hate them with a fiery passion. They don't like me much either.  They have violated the sanctity of my shower.  More than once (or resurrected, take your pick.)

Imagine how much less than thrilled I was when I was leaving for work only to discover this bad boy hanging out on the railing on the back steps.

So much less than okay.  

Oh, you bet your ass I zoomed in for that little photo.  No way in the world was I getting close enough where it could be within striking distance, or accidentally bump into me if the wind blew too hard.

Just look at that thing!  All creepy and hairy and dangly.  I can't swear that he is related to the Giant Ninja Spiders that kept invading my shower last summer...but he looks like he is up to no good.  Just hanging there, pondering the best way to get into my house.

I determined that he was too big to be easily squashed with a shoe, and I had to leave for work. No time to plot out a strategy for his demise.  Also, I haven't restocked my supply of The Spray of Death yet, so couldn't do that to stun him.

Instead, I threatened him.  I'm pretty sure he understood me. He wiggled around a bit on his strand of web. I told him he had to leave.  No matter how luxurious he may find the railing of my back steps, it was time to move along.  There's a perfectly lovely garden on the other side of the lawn.  Please remove yourself from my house and go live a happy spider life elsewhere.

I get home from work this evening and immediately check the railing.  Do you think he packed up his cares and woes, moseyed off into the sunset as ordered?  Of course not!  Stupid, rebellious spider.

Someone didn't listen very well

Instead, it decided to start spinning its web in earnest.  That strand is much thicker than it was this morning.  It's unpacking its little spider bags and setting up house in my railing.  This is unacceptable!  I tried to be nice, and it threw it back in my face.

It's on now, spider.

Dear Spider On My Porch Railing:

I'll honor my end of the agreement and give you until morning to get the hell out of here. If you choose to stay and continue to ignore my kind offer of relocating?  I will end you.

Okay...maybe not me personally, but I will find someone to smash the shit out of you.  You will feel my wrath by proxy!  

You best pray to every spider deity you have that I do not walk into a web when I open the back door in the morning.  A web so much as touches me and I will use everything in my arsenal to make sure you die.  It won't be pretty or pleasant.  It will probably involve a lot of different cleaning products, possibly some Febreze as that is the only aerosol spray I currently have, and many shoes.  You might smell nice, but you won't be around to enjoy it.  You will literally be the goo on the bottom of my shoe.

I don't think either of us really want to go that route.  Consider your options and make the wise decision.

XOXO,

ME

And that's the current situation, Friends. I feel a bit like the Dread Pirate Roberts. "Good night, Spider.  Good work.  Sleep well.  I'll most likely kill you in the morning."