Thursday, November 10, 2011

HoliDaze

Our family has always loved halloween. The kids were really looking forward to it this year, because we are in a big, family-friendly neighborhood now. Rumor was that we would get over 200 trick-or-treaters, a neighbor up the street would offer hayrides to the kids, and there was a special house that gave out humongous candy bars.

Unfortunately we were the victims of storm Alfred here in the northeast. On Saturday night before Halloween (which was Monday) we got a very heavy, wet snow that wreaked havoc on the trees that were still covered in leaves. So many trees fell and caused damage to power lines- over 800,000 people lost power here in Connecticut alone. And to think, we were some of the lucky ones that got power back after six days. My friend just a mile away suffered on for eight days.

This is my pumpkin on my front step at the beginning of the storm. I love it- I bought it a few years ago in our old town. It is made out of a recycled propane tank. It's heavy and it can't be smashed!

Here is the morning after, and what was left of a pretty dogwood tree in our front yard. The whole tree is lost now. So sad. I'm not going to cry over this one, though- dogwood trees make an awful mess in the Spring.



The kids ended up losing 4 days of school, and halloween was cancelled. So many power lines were down in our neighborhood that it wasn't safe for trick-or-treating. We slept by the fireplace in the living room all week, kept our food in coolers covered with snow, and cooked as much as we could on the grill before the food spoiled in the thaw. We all became characters from "Little House on the Prairie" and told funny stories by candlelight at night.

Over a week later, we've put that sad holiday behind us and we're looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. I've put all of my halloween decorations away in hopes that next year they will be enjoyed a little more!

I've been busy getting some new holiday items listed in my Etsy shop. I missed having power for six days- I couldn't make much of anything, and I was having withdrawals!



I hope everyone else had a nice Halloween. I'm enjoying a quiet week before I start thinking about holiday baking and Christmas shopping next week.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Hello Kitty!

Here's a Hello Kitty bouquet listed on Etsy. The last one I made lasted only about an hour before it was purchased, so if you want this one, go grab it quickly!