The Joker

I turned my neighbor into the Joker!

Umbrella Ninjas

Such a terrible Halloween trick or treat night, but it didn't stop the grandboys!

A first for me!

A few weeks ago Bill was cutting down some unwanted grapevines and so I made this wreath, it was the first time I actually made the wreath myself, so it's a little lop-sided, also threw in some blackberry vines. Anyhoo, I decorated it and hung it up, it looks pretty good with the other colors in my house. Excuse the bow, I am not adept at making them and the ribbon was supposed to be like burlap, but was as limp as a noodle..lol..off t

o mom's for movie day, have a good one.

Traveling Carillon

This is a picture of the traveling carillon from the Halloween parade last night. It was dark and of course, it was moving, but love all of the bells and Batman at the helm playing them....look at the little boy in the right hand corner of the picture...he spied Batman...lol...he was playing some awesome and haunting music...we loved it...

Centralia Halloween Parade

Just got home from the Halloween Parade in Centralia, IL. It was a nice parade. First we ran around to the food vendors and ate all kind of junk food, it was a nice fall day. Then we settled in for the parade, it only got down to 44 degrees, so it wasn't that cold. There have been times that it has been in the 20's by the end of the parade..brrr. The town of Centralia, (for those that don't live around here) has a beautiful Carillon. It is one of the largest in the world. So anyway, since it was Halloween the carillon was playing The Addam's family theme, the Munsters theme, and other halloween songs...which is very interesting to hear these songs played on bronze bells echoing through the town. There was even a Carillon "float" in the parade, that was from Ohio. You can see Batman playing them inside...awesome to see it in action. Home now and watching "The Cat People"....hope you all had a greatday!

Happy Fall Ya'll

I decorated one of Bill's fences and benches today with WAY too much stuff, but you know

 me....less is not enough...lol..

Good bye garden..

Well, friends, it official. We are schedule for the first freeze of the season. Bill and worked in the garden today, nothing left now but brussels sprouts and one kale plant. I was surprised to find a bunch of crispy green beans,I had been ignoring them..lol...also pulled the turnips , baby carrots, peppers, kale and about 5 potatoes. So I made a bunch of smoothies with the kale, parsley (I forgot to mention the parsley) and carrot greens, with some fruit, of course, and froze them for later. Worked up the green beans, and turnips, then made some more blackberry jelly. There were a lot of other activities around here, but I've taken up enough of your valuable time...so let's just say that I am pooped and am done for the day....hope you all had a good one.

Today, it's all about the jelly

Woo!, busy day! Grocery shopping, then made grape and blackberry jelly. Believe me, there is still lots of blackberry jelly-making in my future. I hope you all had a great day!

Movies, Movies.

Hello Friends! Movie day with mom today, as always. Here are my reviews: THE INTERNSHIP, very funny and a feel good movie, written and produced by Vince Vaughn, so you know it's gotta be good, starring him also, and Owen Wilson...then THE CONJURING..the scariest movie I have seen since THE EXORCIST..seriously gave me the willies...you all know how I love horror movies, don't think I could watch it again....yep, it's that frightening...it's also a "true" story, which makes it even more disturbing. So, as if that's not enough Halloween horror, I am watching HALLOWEEN III: Season of the Witch...hee hee....have a great evening all!

It's all about the apples.

We peeled and sliced apples today, I froze them and I'm glad that's over! Now I can make apple sauce, apple butter, apple pie, apple fritters, apple cake, apple crisp, apple cobbler.. (well, you get the idea) whenever I want...Made apple pie for dessert tonight, can't wait to taste it....so that's it, it's been all about the apples today...hope you had a great day and enjoy your evening..

Jamalyn's Birthday Party, Louisville, IL

 My new face design that came to me in a dream...weird huh? I call it a bat-terfly...

Darren's never ending chili bowl event

We went to my son's house today in Collinsville, IL. We took mom, Mary Belle Westman Knight and Bill's mom Dona also. Darren was having an open house today for anyone that wanted to stop by , have a bowl of chili and visit for a while. We had a great time! I just don't get to see Darren and Mindy Meyer-Holsapple enough. Enjoyed the visit so much and the chili was so great, wow, he even put bacon in it, everything is good with bacon, right? This is their cat, who's name I can't remember, so we shall just call him "the cat with no name" from now own. Isn't he cool looking? A regular Halloween cat...hope you all have a great day!

Bon Voyage little hummingbirds, we will see you in the Spring.

Bill and I made apple butter today, the house smells wonderful. I finally just got it canned, since it had to cook all day. Also made some blackberry jelly and syrup. We had supper by the firepit, with coffee and apple crisp for dessert. It was really chilly, but love the crisp fall air! Our persimmon tree is loaded with persimmons, they are not quite ripe yet though. The leaves are finally turning their fall colors... Oh....and our hummingbirds are gone for the winter . We saw only one yesterday, but none today. Hate to see the little guys go.... I hope you all had a great day!

My new avatar

Alma Fall Festival

 Elmo stopped by the Alma Fall Festival today, looks like he found a friend.

 Two of my face painting "clients" riding the merry-go-round in the rain.

 Everything was going pretty well until it started raining about noon...

 Pumpkin decorating contest.

 And a collage of a few of the kids I painted today.

What an interesting day! Today was the Alma Fall Festival, and it was really well planned and had lots of things for everyone to do, but then, OF COURSE, it has to rain about lunch time for over an hour Did I say rained, it poured.. I was painting faces, and they just kept standing in line in the rain, so I kept painting. One girl waited on her brother with an umbrella and one grandma put a plastic bag over her grand daughter's head..lol..Bill came and we had lunch in the community building and then it stopped raining. OMG, I was so busy, did about 40 faces today! They weren't all full faces, most of them were. Finally, lots of people came, live music, pumpkin decorating contest, best pie contest, and then they auctioned off pies, cakes and cookies...there were other things going on and many vendors, but I am clueless because I was concentrating on what I was doing. All in all I enjoyed the day and made some money too.

Red Hat Halloween party...boo everybody!

 We stopped by Uncle Bob's on the way home and he took some pictures of us....

 The weird Red Hat lady dummy, is like traveling Stanly..she goes from Red Hat household to Red Hat household.  I will tell you that she will never come to my household..very creepy!

 Playing "wrap the mummy" with toilet paper

 Memory game, remembering objects I just showed them on a tray....looks like they are thinking really hard.

 Monarch butterfly and Cards fan.

 Creepy lady, Susan and kitty cat Kay

 Flamboyant Pirate, Mad Mary and monarch butterfly, Mary.

Halloween party tomorrow with my Red Hat sisters.

Tomorrow is our Red Hat Ladies Halloween party. I had the My Cakelady Bakes bakery make these cool sugar skull cookies, didn't she do a great job? Each one is different! I also made another ghost/pumpkin as the prize for the best costume. It's gonna be a fun day tomorrow.

GET IT?

GRAVITY

Bill and I had a Date day today. We went to see GRAVITY....all I can say is WOW! I felt like I was spinning around in space with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, the special affects were above outstanding. The first 17 minutes were filmed without a cut, amazing. Go read the reviews it has a 98 percent rating, and it had the highest grossing movie for an opening in October ever. 55 million this last week end...! Then we stopped at Taylor Maid (local peeps know about this great little ice cream/sandwich shop in Sandoval, it's been around for decades). We had a sandwich and ice cream then came home. It was a great day with my favorite guy. Now, just having some Hallowine wine, it's very good btw...have a great evening.

AFTER EARTH and Hallowine

Mom and I had movie day today. We only watched one movie, as we had a very nice afternoon visit with my uncle Bob. It was so nice to see him and catch up on the news. Mom and I chatted away and then we watched AFTER EARTH, with Will Smith and his real life son, Jaden Smith. It was very good, some great acting and excellent story. It was almost dark when I got home, boy the days sure are short now. Look what I found at the IGA, some HALLOWINE.....apple wine with cinnamon and nutmeg...can't wait to taste it, it's chillin right now. I hope you all had a great day.

More photos of Wild Bill's sent to me by my niece, Amanda.