Wonderful, wonderful weekend.

Okay, so there were some unpleasant parts, but they were completely overshadowed by the good parts.

Mainly, the Pumpkin Party was a rousing success. I think an even dozen is the perfect number for this sort of party–at least with my current space constraints–as we were short a couple of expecteds and we ended up with at least a half hour between everyone finishing their pumpkins and the allotted judging time which could have accommodated the two MIAs. The pumpkins themselves were fantastic, my pumpkin lights made another appearance (though lacking an extension cord I couldn’t show them off lit), the food was a hit and I even managed to have almost everything finished before guests arrived! The only thing I was still working on was chopping the mango and tomato for the salad (I also needed to set out the drinks) so I consider my timing to be vastly improving.

Once the early pumpkins were carved some moved indoors and a movie was started that pretty much took us to dinner time. Various conversations ensued and then it was time for the judging. Now, for those that have not had the chance to attend one of my Pumpkin Parties, the way this works is I designate 4 categories, create the prizes for them, and whomever does not carve or decorate a pumpkin gets to judge. So far we’ve never had to fall back on Plan B which is having everyone cast their ballots in the four categories. The winners this year were:

• Tracy, Most Original, for her Glow-in-the-Dark Painted Spider Squash
• Me, Funniest, for my Monkey Pumpkin
• Kim, Scariest, for the Puking Pumpkin (figured to be the nightmare of partying pumpkins everywhere)
  and
• Mom, Wildest (aka Best in Show) for her Kitty Cat pumpkin.

Then we came back inside, cut the cake, and forced ourselves to eat a smidge more food. The cake was a 3-layer spice cake with cream cheese icing, pecans coating the sides, and a caramel spider web on top (very similar to one you’d find at Williams-Sonoma online but without the $65 price tag!). This brought forth a discussion of Mom’s discovery of a carrot cake mix in her pantry that expired back in 2004. ( !! ) She said she also had a can of frosting and wondered if it ever expired… it didn’t have a date after all. So, theories flew about saying that if it was green when she opened it she might want to check the label again.

Mom: (giggling) Well, if I peel back the lid and something waves at me I might need to put the lid back on.

Various people: (waving and looking up) Hi!

Bob: (with hands on hips, he’s seated by the way) It’s about damn time!

See, it’s almost like you were there, right? I assure  you, nothing waved or spoke when I opened the icing container. I promise!

Wild partyers that we are, most people had left by 7:30 (hey, it’s a Sunday night, I *intend* for it to break up early!) and those remaining were talking about various and sundry things including such things as the Bible condemning one to hell for calling their brother a fool, and how Julie’s brother was quite enamoured of the stories they left out of Sunday School as a child–namely David and Bathsheba to which I was then directed to look up and read a passage of scripture about diseased loins. Yes, we’re all going to hell. It’s not news.

I should have known, really, that subtitling a party ‘Gourds Gone Wild’ after the chest-baring line of videos would lead to only one thing: a field trip to the 24-hour X-Mart. A garter belt was needed before Tuesday but while we found one (a very pink one… and the shopped was not fond of pink) the payment machine was down.

Julie: There is a slight problem with the machine. They can’t get it up.

Jen & Jenn: (blink blink) 

So, after wandering the store a bit, it was decided that the seeker could come back the following night, now that she knew where it was, and hope that the machine was back up. The reason we went to the X-Mart over any of the other adult stores in town was the preponderance of creedy old guys with comb-overs and stained shirts sitting behind the counter at the majority of the stores. X-Mart, on the other hand, seems to be continually staffed by non-threatening college-agers and is therefore much more hospitable for female shoppers. Add to the fact that it is opened 24-7 and not all that far away, and you’ve got an optimal shopping experience. Of course, if you are sensitive to incense or perfumes you may want to wear noseplugs or a mask, it was quick thick in there last night.

# # #

After the field trip everyone dispersed and I finshed the little bit of cleaning up left to do and watched another episode of House while hooking the laptop back up on its table next to the sofa. I was debating on whether to tackle the Kick-Off Meeting project I had in mind or to scrap it for later as I checked my mail for urgent issues and caught up on the few forums I watch. Then, when Angela’s Eyes was pre-empted for the second half of a movie, I saw that Hairspray was on TCM and that The Village was starting on FX about an hour later. Having wanted to watch that for a while and figuring this was a bit of a sign, I went ahead and got out the super-secret project to be revealed to my WriMo’s tonight and stayed up way too late finishing the super-secret project to be revealed tonight but actually went to bed right when The Village started to get spooky. I knew if I kept watching (it was 1am already) I would never get to sleep.

Yes, I’m a wuss. Deal with it.