Halloween – The Awesome Way
I know, I’ve been slack and didn’t update my blog for the longest time and now I have to catch up. This is old news, but I’m doing it anyway. Get over it.
2009 was my first Halloween in the USA, it also happened to coincide with my girls visiting.
Our first taste of Halloween was visiting the Pumpkin Patch to choose our pumpkins with my niece and nephew.
Next, we had a family carving night. Kids young and old had so much fun!
The front step, now resplendent with Jack-O-Lanterns. Emily gets the prize for most evil, Susan gets the prize for most scaredy cat-like.
Scarefest.
St Louis is well known for it’s haunted houses. No, not REAL haunted houses, but houses dressed up by Hollywood crews and inhabited by actors dressed as monsters lurking in doorways and camouflaged into the walls.
OMG
It was the most Awesome thing I had ever done.
UNTIL
We went to Knott’s Berry Farm, which at the time was called Knott’s Scary Farm. It had also been dressed up for Halloween and had actors dressed as monsters, and the rides had been changed for the event as well. I’d have had a heart attack on several occasions had I not been having such an awesome time.
Halloween 2009 ROCKED!
***I stole the two photos of Scarfest from Scarefest.com***
Indoctrination Part 1 – Food, Food and More Food
Crispy little mouthwatering morsels of oniony goodness. Yeah Baby! I love me some Funyuns. When I get off my diet, I’m going to try the Wasabi variety. *drools*
Fried Green Tomatoes
These sound really gross, right? Oh no…. they’re completely awesome! I can’t describe them as it would make them sound worse, but trust me, if you get a chance, give them a try.
Ribs
They’re everywhere and they make my mouth water just thinking about them…. oh gawd, there I go again. I’ve always been a ribs fan, but had no idea of how good they are until I got to the South. OH.MY GOD.
BBQ Pork Sandwich (Pulled Pork)
I tried this for the first time at Marlowe’s in Memphis. I’d never heard of it before and wasn’t all that fussed on trying it as it didn’t sound terribly appealing. Brad, however, insisted and I’m glad he did. It’s slow roasted pork, shredded and mixed with bbq sauce. Really moist, tasty and nom! It’s served on a burger bun. SCRUMMY!
Marlowe’s was fabulous. The food was dirt cheap and very good ($6.95 for the BBQ sandwich meal which was WAY to big for me to eat). We walked out after spending $25.00 on drinks and food AND they pick you up and deliver you back to your hotel in their pink stretch limo.
Popeye’s Chicken – “is fuckin’ awesome”.
I’d been wanting to try Popeye’s since seeing “Little Nicky”. He’s right, it IS fuckin’ awesome!
This and Frozen Custard are the two things I miss the most since changing my eating habits. Dairy Queen is the best soft serve ice-cream on earth. Seriously.
Pretzels
Oh God! Talk about more-ish! Pretzels are big, soft, tasty and insanely addictive. The more salt the better.
***With the exception of the Dairy Queen photo, I totally stole all the graphics from the internet.***
Kids at Play.
I have to share… we spent the afternoon at the park with the kids and we all had an absolute ball!
Oh shit, there it goes!
Meet my niece and nephew! Gorgeous, huh?
Seriously Uncle Brad, get off your lazy ass and chase the damned thing!
Black Friday – organisation is the key!
No, I’m not talking about Friday the 13th, I’m referring to the day after Thanksgiving.
“The term “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day. More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit).” Thanks Wikipedia!
Black Friday is the most insane of all insane sale days.
Oh, yes it is!
So, Thanksgiving morning, the newspapers and mailboxes are full of the store brochures advertising their specials. So those who say that Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks and ALL about the turkey….. they’re lying!
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SALE PLANNING!
It takes you all day to go through the damned brochures and I finally bit the bullet and set up a spread sheet. I know. I KNOW!
So, the sales start at different times and are all over the freaking place, so you have to carefully plot your course, however there are some traps for young players!
Sears opens at 4am and has all the kitchen appliances a girl could ever need at never to be seen again prices. J C Penney opens at 5am, Kohls at 6am etc etc Walmart sale starts at 5am, however Walmart are open all night and if you are keen on something at Walmart (ie: TomToms for $59 and $89), you really should stand by it all night to make sure you get one once they release the goods.
Obviously there are choices to be made and many risks to be taken!
We learned by accident that if you want one of the most popular sale items from Walmart, they sell tickets at 3am… but getting a ticket doesn’t mean you can leave, in fact if you go missing for more than 15 minutes, you lose your spot. Harsh.
One solution I learned from a serious Black Friday shopper (while standing for 3 hours in the TomTom line) is to co-ordinate with friends and family. She had people EVERYWHERE in that fucking store.
You also need a runner for snacks, coffee and to stand in line for you for pee breaks.
We had to do a run home after being at Walmart to empty the car for another stab at the sales. We’re setting up house, ok???
So, Walmart shoppers, what bargains did YOU grab on Black Friday?
The New Me
I’m not sure if any of you are aware, but I have stopped smoking.
There were several deciding factors, but the main one was receiving the results of a chest x-ray, which was completely clear. After smoking for 35 years, I was utterly floored.
I decided that this was my second chance.
Brad and I were recommended a book (thanks Simon!) called ‘Allen Carr’s Easy to Way To Stop Smoking” and we both read it. It was the turning point in both our lives. This book made it ridiculously easy to stop. It’s impossible to explain, you have to read it for yourself. If you are ready to stop smoking, read it, I promise it will change your way of thinking about stopping.
Brad and I are both overweight, and have wanted to go back on The Zone diet for some time now, but have lacked the motivation. Now that we have stopped travelling and are settling into a routine here, we have started the diet and are feeling SO good….. so good in fact that we did the unthinkable this week.
WE SIGNED UP AT A GYM! I love that it has a pool and I can swim for fitness. At this stage I am able to swim 650 metres after doing 10 minutes on a fucking Elipter *shudder*. I couldn’t have done 50 metres 3 months ago. I’m stoked!
Elipter’s need to die a horrible death, also the person who invented them, and their dog.
I want to puke just thinking about all this healthy shit…. but it feels so GOOD to feel good!
Thunderbirds are go!
Today was the start of my All American Weekend. We started with breakfast at IHOP (the International House of Pancakes), eating a ridiculous amount of food and revving up on caffeine to fuel ourselves for the day ahead.
Hickam Air Force Base held it’s Open Day today.
Dayum!
Americans know how to entertain the masses. It was incredible.
The highlight of the day were the Thunderbirds.
I’ve always loved aircraft, I could watch planes take off and land all day long. Seriously.
Thunderbirds, unsurprisingly, turned out to be something frighteningly close to orgasmic.
Tomorrow… barbecue and football. Stay tuned.
Hawaiian Test Cricket Team
Yes, you read it here first, cricket is coming to Hawaii and I have the pictures to prove it!
The boys are going to need a little more practice, methinks. 
Coming to America
This is what I have been waiting for. I have one, and you probably don’t! It sucks to be you! 
Avenue Q
Avenue Q
Originally uploaded by Kerri McCrorey
This musical has it all:
Muppet love
Muppet daily dramas
Muppet heartbreak
Muppet sex
It’s the funniest damned thing I have ever seen. If you haven’t seen it and you ever get the opportunity… do it. You won’t regret it!
