I had some friends over for dinner last evening.  And yes, I cooked.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Actual food. For other people.

And only part of it was from a can.

I know, I know – it’s unbelievable. Though, the really only amazing part was that only the bread was delayed. The pasta, meatballs, and sauce all were done at the same time.

I’m not going to get carried away and do this… ummm… cooking thing all the time – but it’s nice to know that it’s at least possible.

———–

After dinner, we carved jack-o-lanterns. Or rather, carved pumpkins until they were jack-o-lanterns. You know what I mean.  I went with the super-hero theme. Okay, technically a misunderstood super-villain. They tend to have better budgets, anyway.

And while carefully carving my pumpkin, my chisel slipped and slid neatly across my finger.

We had a bleeder.

I got myself cleaned up and put a band-aid on it – hoping against hope that I didn’t get infected with pumpkin DNA.

A few minutes later, I managed to cut myself again. Not as bad this time, but more bleeding, clean-up and band-aids. This time, I was pretty sure the pumpkin got into my bloodstream and I expect some kind of orange colored mutation to kick in shortly.

It was worth it, though. The pumpkins were awesome and I think everyone had fun.

Except for Thunder(cat) – he didn’t get enough attention and sat off to the side.

Judging us.

And finding us wanting.

(shudder)

—————–

So, yesterday evening was a Halloween tradition and yesterday and today at lunch were spent making ornaments with my committee and students to send to troops overseas as part of Operation Evergreen. (whoa, that was a long sentence.) I really should have had some kind of turkey dinner this evening to round out my concentrated holiday experience – but I missed the boat.

THE GRAVY BOAT!

Ha! I’m kidding. I don’t like gravy.

(I wonder if this a pumpkin mutation side effect already?)

Anyway, the ornament construction went well and I churned out some origami and helped with the clean up.

And let me tell you – that glitter glue gets everywhere. I went to clean my glasses, saw a twinkle in my eye and thought I had gotten glitter in my eye. Nope, it was in my soul.

You can’t just clean that up with some Windex and a paper towel. I suspect that at some point I’ll… well.. excrete it – but for now, I’m just sparkly inside and out.

So, two holidays in one day, a pumpkin mutation, and glitter in the darnest places.

Never a dull moment.