check it out. I've signed up for a class thru UCLA Extension. So I've got a builtin support group for this. You are all welcome to email me or call me (if I know you and like you) and encourage me and cheer for me all through the month of November. It will be crazy. It will be fun! Kristen

Halloween is almost upon us! We are generally a Theme Family, and we all dress up with a particular theme in mind and it's very fun. This year was going to be an Indianna Jones theme which I was willing to be excited about despite the total lack of variety (the guys were ALL going to be Indiana, and I was going to be Miriam from "Raiders of the Lost Ark". But Craig's creativity and enthusiasm is being sapped by a current project at work and we scrapped the "huge halloween fiasco" this year.

Now the boys both want to be Harry Potter (who connor has been twice already! Fine with me!) and Craig is thinking he'll be the Shadow - which, if you ask me, will take more creativity than Indy, but whatever. So I get to be whatever I want. I think I'll go Geisha this year. That will be fun.

Time to start making the lists for Thanksgiving and Christmas. What we'll eat, do, buy, etc. Last year we got Round Table Pizza for Thanksgiving dinner and it was really fun! I did not have to stress and slave in the kitchen all day, and we enjoyed the meal immensly! Round Table really does have the best pizza ever. I won't even get started on the garlic twists.

We're not going home for any of the holidays this year. So we have to find a way to occupy ourselves for the breaks from work and school. I'd like to head up into the mountains one weekend so that Fletcher can actually see snow.

fun! Kris

Last Thursday we went to a pumpkin patch in Woodland Hills. The kids took their first trip through a corn maze (not as exciting as I had been led to believe) and rode a bunch of fun rides. Connor even tried the climbing wall, and got about 15 feet up before he decided it was time to jump. (or float, as the case may be. I think that was his favorite part of the whole thing).

Anyway, the FREE pumpkin patch was indeed not as free as it sounded, since everything required tickets. So $60 later I told the kids they could get SMALL pumpkins and NOT big ones, and then we came home and they painted them. The one with the crooked neck is Mason's and then the other two are Con & Fletch's. (Connor picked out the Halloween place mats).

The boys tackle daddy, who is disgusted that mom got the camera instead of helping, while explosions happen in the background. Good times.

Apparently I never blogged two of the most-fun things I did this summer! We had two girls-nights-out, both in September. On Sept 13 we went to Torrance to a book signing by Stephenie Meyer. She has written two YA novels, Twilight and New Moon, both of which are excellent! And she is working on 3 more novels, one of which will be an adult sci-fi. Check her out at www.stepheniemeyer.com .

The second was also a book signing, this one by Meg Cabot, of Princess Diaries fame. (which, frankly, I don't think are her best books.) She also has several adult novels out BESIDES the early ones which are all smutty romances. My favoriets of hers are the Mediator series, originally published under pen name Jenny Carrol. Her recent GREAT book is Avalon High. Teen Idol was also very very fun! Her blog is my favorite one to read: http://www.megcabot.com/diary/

Yes, I am a grown up, hooked on Young Adult literature. I'm sorry folks, you just can't beat the humor! and they're clean! (Given, I also love Janet Evanovich, who is HILARIOUS, but not so clean...) YA books are the new chick-lit.

Also recent great reads are "Fairest" (YA fantasy) by Gail Carson Levine, who wrote Ella Enchanted which is endlessly better than the movie; and "Archangel" (adult sci-fi/fantasy) by Sharon Shinn. I will be reading much more of Shinn in the future!

On the writing vein, my class at UCLA starts on Wednesday. We are heading down there tonight to find the building and locate parking that is not scary-far-away and arm-and-leg expensive. I also have to get a carry case for my laptop.

Kristen

Here is the raffle quilt that the Weaverville quilt guild made. It's called, "oh no, there's a weed in my garden!"

This is the raffle quilt that my mother's quilt group "The Thursday night strippers" made. Isn't it beautiful!?

Here are some pictures from the quilting retreat I went to with my mom in Weaverville last weekend. I managed to finish the top of my wall hanging, and she's keeping it this week to machine quilt it for me. This was my first retreat (I was a "virgin") and it was so much fun! Linda Ballard calls this pattern Hidden Stars. She is the woman who taught the retreat and it was great having her there and well, and we all hope that her recovery from surgery continues to go well!

Being away from dh and ds's for 4 days was relaxing and fun, and I'm pretty sure they didn't miss me at all! They were all over the place while I was gone - went to disneyland, the tar pits, had all kinds of fun. I'm waiting for them to ask me to go away again so they can have more fun with Dad!

Here is a picture of my dress! It's got some problems, but I guess I can't expect perfection this early in the game. (excuse the finger in the corner, my 6 year old took the pic) I need to re-do the side hem on the left, and the neckline isn't symmetrical. That's going to have to stay. It's cozy though! You can't really tell from the picture but it's a faux wrap dress - the top wraps and ties on my left (right side in the pic. you also cannot see the ties.)

Here's the pattern.
I did the one in the center, bottom. Too bad I'm not as statuesque as the model, eh? :) Oh well! My next project will be simpler though, something that says "2 hour dress" or "easy" on it. For real.
Later!