Halloween!

Not long after we moved in, N and I attended a neighborhood event at the pool.  We met some of the other residents, and were told that our particular neighborhood "does it up big" in terms of decorating for Halloween and Christmas.  We were pretty excited about this, as we love our orange lights and were glad to continue to use them.

They are hard to see here, but we included some luminaries to light the sidewalk.  We put them just inside the planter bed so the trick-or-treaters wouldn't knock them over by accident.

N and I picked up some pumpkins and carved them the day before.  N free-handed his to be upside down, and I used a template I pulled off of the internet.  We thought about making a headless body to sit next to the pumpkin, but didn't have time to get it all together.

We had a decent amount of trick-or-treaters, but not nearly as many as others in the neighborhood.  Some houses get 100 - 200 kids.  We got around 40 or so.  We are in the back of the neighborhood off of a cul-de-sac though.

 Its been a family tradition for years for Mom to cook hotdogs on Halloween night.  It was something that was easy to make and easy to eat, so we could get on our way spooking our neighbors.  Some years she turned them into "spider" hotdogs.  (Don't laugh, my sister and I also got our pb and j sandwiches made into houses, robots, and rocket ships!)  I can't remember how she made them, so I came up with two variations.

This one is cut after its been cooked.

 And this one is cut before its cooked.  N and I decided it looked more like a crab, but you get the idea.  =0)

 The best way to start fall?  With a pumpkin roll of course!

Landscaping 2.0

We have patches of clover in the front yard that take off every time it rains, but die back when it gets hot and leaves bare spots all over the yard.  I decided this fall to use those bare spots as a small scale testing ground for trying out some grass seed.  We have such a mix in the front and back yard, and I'd love to get them somewhat uniform.  It'll make the upkeep that much easier.  I'm also looking for something more dense, as we ended up with tons of giant dandelions all over the place.

I picked up Scott's E-Z Seed in tall thin fescue as it was the smallest amount of seed I could find.  The label also claimed that it would retain moisture, and I wouldn't need to water multiple times a day.

The grass seed pellets were encased in a light brown soil-like substance, and you just spread them around where you needed grass to grow.  Water the spots until they turn dark brown and you're done!  The soil-like substance will lighten back up as the spots need more water.  I did end up having to water almost every day, but we didn't get that much rain during that time frame either.  In about 2 weeks or so, my new grass had sprouted!

Its hard to see - but its the really thin blades.  This isn't as "rugged" as I thought it would be, so it may be back to the drawing board to figure out what is actually in the yard.  I think this would be great to overseed with, because right now the spots of grass that I like are a lovely shade of brownish-yellow.  This would help it look some-what green throughout the year.

Slacking blogger...

I warned you that this might happen... 

We get busy (and I get frustrated with blogger uploading pics sometimes) so updating the blog just doesn't happen.  I still think of posts that I should do and take lots of pictures.  =0)  Hopefully over the next week or so I can get caught up on 2010, and move forward with 2011. 

We have some big plans for 2011, like putting in a patio in the back yard and finally adding some plants.  N is also really getting involved in furniture building, so expect some new pieces to come.  I also REALLY want to get cracking on the kitchen, but its more likely that the master bedroom gets done instead.