My TGITW

If there is such a thing, I will declare it's a Thank God It's The Weekend!

I took yesterday off and got to shop with "free money" – gift certificates at Rustic Redefined Boutique. I never realized how hard it was to shop for something when you don't NEED anything. But I managed to find two nice sweater tops and matching necklaces. Win, win!

Today's shopping fun was the Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest. And you can see why they have GIANT in the name!

I did manage to find a few things that might work for "Christmas gifts" but other than than it was selfish Pumpkin Fry Pies from the Amish.... and their Cashew Crunch for my upcoming sister weekend!

As for the rest of the weekend, since neither hubby or I have a team in the MLB playoffs, I am rootin against the Yankees, and we are supporting the Brewers!

Hunt for Red Hot October

This week has been insanely warm for October. Record high Friday and tied for high temp today. And you know who loves that? A solar powered sister like me! Of course I had to work every day this week but I did get some outdoors time the past three days.

After work on Thursday I headed straight up to Athens with my camera for a Royals cross country meet. So behind on fall sports pix! Guess who doesn't like summer weather in autumn? Runners. Spoiler alert if you have a gag reflex!

Yup, this was the look on probably half the runners' faces right before they crossed the finish line and tossed their cookies! Not kidding. I do not know how I stayed upright since that is such a trigger for me. Uff da. Those poor runners. Both our high school and middle school girls teams took first place anyway!

Gives new meaning to "hurling" through homecoming week! Speaking of homecoming...

Finally was IN TOWN so I could attend and photograph a Royals football game! So many weddings, so little photography time. But we still managed to attend a retirement/birthday party before the game! LOL.

The Royals ended up falling to Pittsville 30-6. Still, I managed to capture a few good photos of both the game and musical entertainment. Once a Pep Band Mom always a Pep Band Mom!

Today's summer-like weather called for a summer activity. 

Mr. Fox and I have literally not been golfing for more than a month! So fun to get out for a very warm round with our friends Craig and Sara.

It also happened to be Big Cup Challenge Day so we got to play larger holes but somehow none of us could manage to take advantage of it. I was just too rusty. That's my excuse. Still... so fun to be out again like it was August!

Of course I 100% got into autumn mode at the Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest! 

Seriously, holy Great Pumpkins, Charlie Brown! I feel like there were tons more arts & crafts and food vendors there than ever before. I found quickly that I was grateful there was an ATM on site, too, because I did not prepare for that. It was so hot, though...

Much like my tasty mini donuts! But productive. I had a few gift things in mind and I found what I needed. After 12,000+ steps on my pedometer between that and golfing I was ready to head home and shower!

Because, of course, our social calendar still had another appointment to go to, after all! And we wonder why time flies.

Had a special 50th anniversary party for our friends Jon and Audrey, who are more like family since they helped raise our baby boy. I mean seriously, how did they know that 30 years into their marriage when she was operating a daycare that they'd meet young Mr. Carter needing afterschool care? And that he'd work his way into their hearts and they'd find a home in ours? 

They really are like family – and we've come to know their entire family very well, too. Just special!

Sometimes I can't believe how blessed we are with the people in our lives. Even how many we've spent time with in just the past few days. It might be the hot summer temps, but I suddenly have water leaking out of my eyes.

Life is so good when you count your blessings! Just sayin'. 

Pumpkin Spice Girls on a Spicy Saturday

First Saturday of October means everyone in Wisconsin is embracing pumpkins and fall. There were at least 4 festivals within short driving distance of our houses, by my friend and next-door neighbor Cindy and I hit 2 of them. 

The Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest – which runs tomorrow too – has gotten bigger and bigger each year. This picture is one of the hundred or so vendors. Pretty set-up.

While the top photo is Cindy and I with a large inflated pumpkin, the real pumpkins are really taller than humans – when sitting anyway.

They're so heavy, they can't be perfectly round. They have to be picked up by a forklift to the weighing station.

We just happened to be there when this one weighed in at over a thousand pounds!!

Very proud owner!

Besides craft vendors, food trucks, and competitions, they had some interesting attractions – like this guy who carves these giant pumpkins.

Inspiring but I know I couldn't do it. 

Pretty cool to see him at work!

And it just happens my team at work is going to dress up for Halloween as the Peanuts gang. Someone has dibbs on Snoopy, but I had to buy this hat! When I press the end of those long black cords, his ears go up! Pretty cool.

Also had to stop at our neighbor's Pumpkin Shed business. It was dress-up day for the workers so we got to see some neighbors in their finest!

My golf partner – Sir Zigs and Zags-a-Lot!

And so many pumpkins! Check it out on Deer Road close to the the intersection with 70th Street. 

After I got home, the pumpkins turned me into Cinderella so I got some windows and screens washed since I'd done my dusting and vacuuming before shopping. Then this evening I went to the wedding reception for a friend's daughter marrying a nice young man from my church. 

It just happened a "friend" put a ball and chain on Sam's ankle. I think they both were Ok with it. And I had a great time dancing, too. I consider that a great Saturday.

My spicy sneak peek tells me Sunday will be just as good!

Just Pumpkin Around

Happy October! Now today was the absolutely beautiful kind of all day that I dream about – 365 days a year. While I love summer, a steady 65 and sunny would do me just fine, too.

It was a nice day to be outside so my friend Cindy and I picked up her sister and headed to the Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest down the road. We thought we were there early, but it got crowded – very crowded – in no time. Everyone looking for a cool craft (or like me, says "I can make that") or tasty food or, oh yeah, pumpkins!

When we were there, they had just started weighing things. And by things,  I mean they check out giant watermelons and squash too.

And no one said big pumpkins are pretty. They're just pretty huge!

You can use our short stature to see that they can be pretty big. And there are larger ones this this, I'm sure.

Did I mention I got to be Sylvester for a minute, too? No longer than a minute though. Trust me. No one called ME princess when I walked in the door.

But Mr. Deck Chair loves me. I gave him plenty of attention today when we soaked up what we hope aren't the last rays of the season. We'll see if we can't at least have afternoon coffee together tomorrow.

Autumn Treasure Hunt

It was another gorgeous fall day here today and this one found us on 2 sorts of treasure hunts.

For the first one, Carter and I were back in Nekoosa at the Giant Pumpkin Fest. Since I was too busy yesterday working concessions, I did not get time to shop all the arts & crafts booths there -- and there were a lot! So today, we were on a mission to hunt down a few Christmas presents. I'm happy to report we found a few! (And a few things for myself that I will not be waiting until the holidays for.)

We also found an elephant ear for Carter and mini-donuts for Mom. (This has got to stop!) And, of course, we had to look at the Giant Pumpkins again...

I've heard of pumping iron but pumping pumpkins? This one weighed 1,468.5 pounds! Carter must be drinking his milk!

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater... Had a wife and couldn't keep her... A person really could live in this pumpkin! It's huge! Maybe I shouldn't give Jim any ideas...

Though he had a great one when we got home from Nekoosa! Since the 2 of us are in a golf tournament next Sunday, we thought it would be a good time to shake off the rust. It worked out great. I'll have to thank the Packers fans for staying inside on this glorious day to watch TV so that the Austins could have a golf course practically to themselves!

Yes, we even dragged Carter along. He's golfed the same amount as me this summer (about twice) so we were even.

Actually, we started off pretty close to even. I was relieved I finally got into the swing of things -- a few times anyway. Golfing, though, was our second treasure hunt of the day. It is very hard to find golf balls among the fallen leaves, I tell ya. They all reflect with the sun so they are hard to pick out. My advice is sticking to the fairways. But what fun is that??

We golfed nearby at The Ridges. Lots of pine trees there so there wasn't much fall color to look at, but hubby sported some orange so I wouldn't lose him among the leaves either! Here he is putting on a Par 3 that I actually parred. Whoot!

Carter had some putting issues today -- but he wasn't the only one. I just hope in our scramble next weekend they don't rely on my putts! Or my drives... or my second shots....

If it's a beautiful day like today, I can at least provide the good attitude (and camera)!

The Great Pumpkins

The organizers of the annual Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest couldn't have asked for more appropriate weather today! Totally autumn. It was crisp and sunny. A little too breezy for my taste, but we'll let it slide.

First on the agenda today was the 5K Pumpkin Run sponsored by Nekoosa Ambulance -- who thankfully were not called to respond to any participants in the run! I decided last week I'd give this run a try. I haven't run a 5K in 3 years so I was out of sync with this. Sure I ran that 10K last month and this is only half the distance, but I prefer distance over speed. I think.

Other than facing the wind for a lot of the race, I had a few things going for me. One, I was well rested (ha). Two, it was my perfect running weather. I love it between 40 and 50. Three, I had support of my 2 nearest neighbors plus a friend from church.



The race was run though some neighborhoods in Nekoosa since the recent flooding of Riverside Park there forced all fest-related events to new locations in the city. So it was weird not having a clue where we were going but I kind of liked it. It made the race seem shorter. (It's all mind games.)


Seriously, I did not get tired at all. I felt really good and full of energy. And, as it turned out, I finished in a personal-best time. And my minutes-per-mile pace was faster than my 10K by a minute and a half (less than 9-minute miles!). So I was thrilled. All 3 of the "Desperate Housewives of Blue Jay Drive" - Niki on left and Cindy on right - posted best times today. We rock!


After the race, I had to buzz home, shower and return to Nekoosa to work concessions for the Assumption Music Parents Association. Carter came with because there are some cool things to see there like, oh, GIANT pumpkins! That is the name of the festival after all!


There were some neat carved ones by some talented folks.

This guy was working on his second pumpkin face when we got there.

Before we left at the end of the day, we got to see both pumpkins. Pretty cool, huh?

Now for the Giant Pumpkins. These must have been the inspiration for Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin! See how flat they are because they can't hold their weight? We're talking 500-1,500 pound pumpkins for this event. A 1,600-pound one would have been a world record. I don't know if they got that high because I had to go work concessions.

Here's my "li'l pumpkin" standing next to a not-so-little pumpkin!

They use a mini-crane to pick them up and set them on the scale.

How 'bout these melons?!? They had produce, huge produce of all kinds there from melons to gourds. Very cool!

Although my chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick that I had for "lunch" wasn't that big, the pumpkin-pie flavored ice cream cone I had for "supper" certainly ranked right up there. Now that would be a fun record to break!

Maybe next year....