Halloween Update

So far on my Halloween poll, the winning option is me giving out bouncy balls or some other non-food items to trick or treaters. That's good, because that's what I decided to do anyway. :-) Mel had some mini-tubs of Play-Doh that she wasn't going to use, so I bought those off of her. Being awesome, she also threw in some bubble gum, spider rings, and twisty bracelets, so the 10 or 12 trick-or-treaters who actually come by my house will find lots of fun options. If they come before I leave for community group.

Last night I stopped by the Guilty Pleasures show at the Frist Center, and I was delighted to see one of the singers in a She-Ra costume. That's amazing dedication to the 80s, folks. Also appearing: The Energizer Bunny, Rambo, Willie Nelson, and Chrissy from Three's Company.

I dragged my very patient husband to a costume party in East Nashville tonight. Dan Beck threw a party, so we stopped by to stay hi. I fashioned a cat costume out of my critter hat, a fuzzy scarf, and black clothing, and Paul donned his fedora and camera to become a photographer. Highlights of the party: The band in the living room playing (mostly) blues, and the dogs in costume.

Several people on my neighborhood list-servs have been asking when trick or treating will be this year. Like, will it be tonight (Saturday) or on Halloween (Wednesday). One person said they couldn't find anything about it on the internet. Ummmm....... as one neighbor replied, "I've held trick or treat on Halloween for the past 53 years...when do other people do it?"

To be fair, I'm sure there are neighborhood organizations that decide to have trick-or-treating on a weekend instead of a weeknight. Just struck me as a funny question.

By the way, did you hear that Kat Coble is giving out Bibles for Halloween? Or maybe not...interesting discussion in the comments over at her place.

To Treat or Not to Treat

All Hallows' Eve approaches. Neighbors are hanging plastic skeletons on their doors, and I took my dog to a Halloween party at Red Rover tonight (gotta love East Nashville).

I'm trying to decide what to do for Halloween this year. I loved Halloween as a little kid. Being a chocoholic, it was totally my kind of holiday. I loved to dress up, too. For me, Halloween was like a mini-Hollywood, my chance to be an actress, to play at being a different person for one day. The makeup, the costumes -- even today I wish I had more reasons to go around wearing silly outfits.

This year I don't have any costumes or events planned, but one never knows.....Paul and I threw a last minute movie party last year, and I pieced together a Bollywood outfit in a few hours.

My current debate centers around the candy issue. I loooooooove sugar, but I've also had some blood sugar problems in the past, so I question the responsibility of giving out a bunch of candy to kids (writer's note: that's totally my issue and not a judgment on what anyone else decides to do. so chill.). But I don't want to be the lame "raisin house" either. I always hated getting raisins in my trick-or-treat bag.

I've thought about trying to go the arcade prize route and giving out bouncy balls or stickers or something. Of course, if I do stick with candy, I could always spring for fair trade chocolate.

Knowing me, I'll probably end up with whatever I find at Kroger right before the trick-or-treaters start knocking on my door. But just out of curiosity, what's your vote?

What should Christy give to trick-or-treaters this Halloween?

• 
  
  Candy


• 
  
  Lame raisins or peanuts


• 
  
  Raisins or peanuts, but covered in chocolate


• 
  
  Bouncy balls or stickers or some weird non-food item


• 
  
  Fair trade chocolate


• 
  
  Nothing, hide in the basement

view results
Free vote poll

Asking for Help

This weekend was a good lesson for me, a reminder of the importance of asking for help.

I have an independent spirit, with a good dose of pride as well. No, I don't think I'm better than everyone else. I just think I know the best way to do things. (See, that's not so bad. Um, right?) Add to that an unwillingness to "inconvenience" others.

As a result, I don't like to delegate. I think my life will be so much easier if I just do everything myself. No reason to bother anyone else with my silly, little tasks. After all, they won't do the tasks the way I think they ought to be done.

For a small business owner, this is not a good way to operate. Frankly, it's not a good way to stay in business, either (although it IS a good way to have a nervous breakdown).

I like to think that I have improved my willingness to ask for help. So many friends have supported me and helped me as my business has been getting started. I've become willing to ask for help with proofing my store's website, finding models for my product pictures, and figuring out accounting principles.

Last Friday, though, I found myself in a conundrum -- I needed to prepare for a house guest, wash dishes and laundry, cook food for a potluck, and get organized for two weekend shows with ghia. I needed to be at a friend's house (which was 30 minutes away) by 7pm that night, potluck dish in hand. At 6:30 I was buried in tortilla mix the kitchen, and my house guest's bed wasn't made. I hadn't even thought about what I needed to do for the craft shows on Saturday and Sunday. I arrived at my friend's house almost an hour late.

By Saturday morning I was a mess, and my time for preparing for the shows was running out. I got up early and started working, letting my husband sleep because "I didn't want to bother him." I loaded the cars myself and arrived at the show with only 20 minutes to set up. Thirty minutes into the show, I was struggling to construct the tent for my booth.

Saturday evening, after the show, I was depressed and exhausted and just wanted to hide from the world.

Looking back, I wish I had asked for help starting Thursday night. My revised plan of action would have looked something like this:
1) Ask husband for help with household chores. He's always very willing to help, and does a great job.
2) Ask grocery store for help -- figuratively -- by getting pre-made ingredients for the potluck meal instead of working from scratch.
3) Ask God for help in maintaining my sanity and reason. I really didn't need to scour the bathrooms on Friday, but at the time I sure thought I did.
4) Ask house guest for help with making their bed and preparing their sleeping area.
5) Ask husband (again) for help with loading the car. That would have taken him 5 minutes and saved me 15 or 20.
6) Ask a fellow vendor at the craft fair for help setting up my tent. A lovely woman did offer to help me, and I foolishly said no, believing I could do it all myself and unwilling to accept help from a stranger.

I hope I learned from my experience, because I don't want another weekend like that. However, while the knowledge is in my head, I don't know if I truly believe it yet. But if I can ask for help just one time when I otherwise would not, then I have improved. Progress, not perfection!

Looky! A Troll!

Look, I got my very first troll at my Hockey Wife blog:

Not So Bright Stars

[sniffles of happiness]

I'm a real blogger now!

Yep, I need this at my next birthday party

Inflatable Titanic Slide

Yes, now you can rent an inflatable depiction of the sinking Titanic. Great for starting discussions with kids at parties, bringing up fun party questions like,"What was the Titanic?" "Why did it sink?" "What happened to all the people on board?" "Did any children die?" and many, many more!

I saw this in East Park a few months ago. No kidding.

How Much Does That Paper Cost?

Dear Nashville Rescue Mission,

Stop sending me junkmail.

You do some really good things at your place, and that's why I gave you a little bit of money last year. But every time you send me those envelopes stuffed with paper, the odds of me giving you anything else are greatly decreased.

I remember when I donated to you last year. You sent me a typed thank you note and included with it a form that asked for even more money. Since then, I've received something from you soliciting donations almost every single week.

Sending me envelopes stuffed with paper every week does not seem fiscally responsible. How many more people could you help if you limited your mailings to 4 - 6 times a year? How much money are you wasting asking for more money?

Today you sent me another letter asking for money, along with a packet of soup. Why do I need a packet of soup? Use the soup you sent me to feed people who have no other food, please.

In contrast, let's look at the example of Magdalene House. After making a small contribution to Magdalene House, I received a thank you note personally signed by some of the residents. No asking for more money, just a thank you note. I now receive quarterly newsletters from them detailing the work they are doing and the way the organization is growing. And guess what. They still don't ask for more of my money. I feel like they just want me to know what's going on with them. And if I can give, that's great. And if not, that's great, too.

I don't know, Nashville Rescue Mission. Maybe your snail mail campaigns work well for you. I hope so, because I'm worried that your bombardment of donor's mailboxes may be distracting people from your primary aim of helping the homeless. Please don't let your quest for more money be the downfall of your ministry.

Thanks for listening.

Too Much Fun -- The Perils of a Growing City

Folks, there are entirely TOO MANY fun things to do in Nashville this weekend.
Quick roundup:

• Cause for the Paws - yay for animals!
  
• Preds Game v. Dallas ('Coma will be there! So will Paul and I!)
• Celebration of Cultures in Centennial Park
• Hooprama Hoop Jam in East Nashville

UPDATE: I missed one! Also this Saturday, the Free Day of Music at the Schermerhorn Center.

Oh, and some football team is playing or something.....

Of course, next week will be crazy-go-nuts, too, with Oktoberfest, Southern Festival of Books, and Edgefield Baptist's Fall Festival and Craft Fair in East Park (ghia will be at the fall festival on Saturday, and at the CRAFT event behind Lipstick Lounge on Sunday, October 13!)

Life Update

Right now I'm trying to lose some weight. I feel like I need to lose about 10 pounds to be healthy, about 30 to be the weight I would love to be. I haven't changed my eating habits much, but I am trying to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Mostly I am trying to get in shape by exercising for at least 30 minutes everyday. I've been successful on that count lately, which is exciting. I've always considered myself an undisciplined person who could never do anything consistently. Maybe the consistency only comes if my goal is truly important to me. Hm.

The Tennessean bugs me. I feel like they jump on any negative angle they can find about the whole Predators ownership deal. Of course, Preds marketing needs to step up, too, and give the local papers more positive things to report. The Preds players always seem to be doing great things for the community (see this recent article about J.P. Dumont visiting hospital patients), but the good stuff hardly ever makes the news.

If you have any extra money, buy some Preds tickets. If you don't want to go to the game, you can give the tickets to me. :-)

Likewise, if you still have extra money after you buy some Preds tickets, take a class at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. I took a class there this summer -- what a great experience! I received top quality instruction and got to sing with some incredible musicians. The classes are open to experienced singers and beginners. And once again, if you have the extra money but don't want to take a class, you can give the money to ME so I can take more classes and become a famous jazz singer. :-)

News reports are talking about "a big recall for chocolate lovers." This headline is referring to the recall of some white chocolate squares made for baking. Um, that is not chocolate. At least, it's not the type of chocolate that most chocolate lovers turn to in their times of need. Maybe "a big recall for bakers" or "a big recall for homemade candy enthusiasts," but not for chocolate lovers.

DOG HOUSE: The Saga Continues

Many of you may remember a few months ago when Cameron the dog ate his house.

When we bought the house, it looked like this:

After Cameron redecorated, it looked like this:



Paul deftly rebuilt parts of the house and reinforced the walls. Aside from some occasional gnawing on the doors, Cameron discontinued the demolition.

One evening a few weeks ago, I was sitting in the living room reading when I started to hear odd noises. It almost sounded like someone doing carpentry work, which was an odd set of sounds to hear around 11pm. I looked out the window and found that Cameron, in fact, WAS doing some carpentry work. He was finishing off his house.



All that remained was one wall, half of another wall, the floor, and the roof -- which, without support posts at two corners, was dangling to one side.

Determined not to pay another hundred dollars for a house soon to be demolished, I set about the task of finding a new house for cheap as free. Or at least cheap.

I searched craigslist, the neighborhood listserv, and freecycle to no avail. I checked local thrift stores (the Salvation Army store on 1st has a good selection of pet carriers, just no houses). In my desperation, I checked closeout stores like Big Lots and Tuesday Morning. Big Lots had a decent-looking house for $50, but it looked so lightweight that I feared Cameron would toss it around his yard instead of sleeping in it. Tuesday Morning had several, er, pet tents. Those were interesting.

Finally, I took the advice of Ivy and Laura (doled out via Twitter) and actually ASKED the listserv and freecycle if anyone had a dog house to spare. Voila! I got several responses offering dog houses.

Several people offered me wooden dog houses for free, but since Cameron splintered his old one, I thought it best to try something different. I found one of those igloo-shaped houses for $20 (they retail for ~$150).

So far Cameron has dragged it around the yard a bit, but no damage has been done. I won't really be able to judge the success of my search until I see if he uses the house during storms and such.

Stay tuned. Same dog time, same dog channel.