Oct 31 - Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I have bunches of stuff to show you, so let's get to it. First up is my jack-o'lantern. It is supposed to be a skull, but I had a few problems along the way. Oh well, I haven't done this in about 15 years, so I have some re-learning to do.

Next are the yummy pumpkin seeds I roasted. My pumpkin yielded about 2 cups of seeds. After I rinsed and dried them (overnight), I roasted them in olive oil, salt, seasoned salt and garlic powder. Yum!

Last is the "Raisin the Dead" snack mix I made for work. Candy corn, chocolate, pretzels, and so much more. My teeth feel fuzzy from eating too much of it.

Hope your Halloween is fun and safe!

October 30 - National Candy Corn Day

Candy corn is a polarizing confection. People either love it or hate it. For the record, I love it. I also love mellowcreme pumpkins. But that is a topic for another day.

Candy corn is so pervasive, not only are there variations for other holidays (red, green and white for Christmas), but you can buy or make candy corn clothes, hats, purses, and more! Oh, and you should hear about Hershey’s candy corn kisses!

You could make your own candy corn, there is even a vegan version! You can make candy corn cookies or other snacks with candy corn in them. There are also tons of ideas for crafting candy corn-look alike items (potholders, flowerpots, and much more).

Tons of sites have the history of candy corn, but the best one I found is here.

One last bite: Generic candy corn (anything other than Brach’s) will give you AIDS.

October 24 - Craving Caramel

October is National Caramel Month

Fall=caramel for me. This time of year, those individually wrapped caramels should be widely available at the grocery store. Buy a few bags and make some Turtle Bars. Here's the recipe:

TURTLE BARS

• 1 14 oz package caramels
• 1/2 c. milk, divided
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 1 German Chocolate cake mix
• 1 c. finely chopped pecans
• 1 12 oz package chocolate chips

1. Combine caramels and 1/4 c. milk in a heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Set aside.
2. Combine melted butter, dry cake mix, nuts, 1/4 c. milk, and mix. Press half of this mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 325 F for six minutes. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Spread caramel over chips. Place remaining cake mix over caramel.
3. Return pan to 325 F oven for 15-18 minutes. Cool completely, then cut into squares.
   

National Fill In the Blank Month

To be honest, I just made up Fill In the Blank Month. But I wouldn't be surprised if I found it actually exists.

Brownielocks lists over 70 different month-long observations for October alone. As I was re-reading the list, I thought it would be funny if some of the celebrations were combined.

I would match National Cookie Month with National Depression Education and Awareness Month. Cookies always cheer me up when I run out of meds.

Caramel Month gets matched with Dental Hygiene Month, for obvious reasons.

I think Go On a Field Trip Month would be fun combined with Pajama Month. Then you could go to the zoo or the museum in your PJ’s. Doesn't that sound fun, especially in a big group. You know how kids get the same color shirt for field trips so it is easier to find the ones that get lost? This is a way cooler way to accomplish the same thing.

Celiac Sprue Awareness Month would be combined with Vegetarian Month. They can each help each other avoid the food groups they respectively can’t or chose not to eat.

Ergonomics gets Positive Attitude Month. Because they’re both things you should have at work. Or maybe Positive Attitude Month should get paired up with National Sarcastic Awareness Month. Maybe all that Pollyanna sunshiny-ness will rub off on them.

Brush Your Teeth!

It's National Dental Hygiene Month, people, so start brushing! And flossing too. I have an appointment for a dental cleaning at the end of the month; when I realized this, I began to furiously brush and floss like I should have been doing for years.

I always do this right before a dental visit. I try to make up for all the times I should have been brushing but just went to bed instead. I get nervous about facing the dental hygienist. My SO's mother is a dental hygienist and I feel like she is judging me vicariously through the dental hygienist who is working on my teeth. Even though she is 2000 miles away.

After a trip to the dentist, I continue to brush and floss religiously, for about a week. I always imagine that I will keep up with it, but I never do.

So keep those teeth clean. But if you don't it's ok. You don't have to worry. Tomorrow is the International Moment of Frustration Scream Day, so you can let it all out then. But you may want to wait until after work. Your boss may not understand.

Mysterious Celebration

So maybe Mysterious is a bit of an exaggeration. This week is Mystery Series Week. We are to celebrate and embrace our favorite continuing characters in crime fiction. I tried to do a bit of research on this holiday but so far I have not come up with much. This is the closest I can come to an official web presence for this celebration. Unfortunately, this page does not appear to have been updated in six years.

To celebrate, I re-read the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. She may be a bounty hunter, * ahem * I mean Bond Enforcement Agent, but she is usually the center of at least one mystery.

In addition, I plan on watching Women's Murder Club this Friday on ABC. It is a new television show based on James Patterson's book series. I haven't yet read the books, but maybe this will be the impetus that will drive me to it.


Other important things to celebrate this week:

National Carry A Tune Week - You may want to read this page. Apparently there are rules to celebrating this particular observation.

National Metric Week - God bless them. They're still hoping America will conform.

Nuclear Medicine Week - I didn't know there was such a thing as nuclear medicine. Am I that uninformed? Or is this a fairly obscure specialty?

Squirrel Appreciation Week - Squirrels are definitely under-appreciated. I'm glad they're getting some better PR. See also Cute Overload.

NaBloPoMo

I've given up on trying to complete a novel in November (see NaNoWriMo). So I've jumped on board with NaBloPoMo. In fact, I participated last year as well. I missed a few days last November, but I still have a better chance at succeeding when I don't have to come up with 1667 words a day.
How in the heck could I vomit up 1667 words in one day? Much less each day for a month. Ok, I can come up with 1667 words a day, but they won't make up anything resembling a novel.

For NaBloPoMo 2007, I want to blog about the different holidays and celebrations that may slip past us since they don't come pre-printed on our wall or desk calendars. I get bored easy at work (don't get me wrong, I love my job) so I look up what the holidays are for that particular day. Today, for example is World Post Day. So I've learned something new today, and so have you. Hopefully I can keep this up for a month. Yeesh.

Oh, for those of you that are lost, here's a map:

NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month (aka November)

NaBloPoMo = National Blog Posting Month (also aka November)

1667 words a day = NaNoWriMo requires you to come up with at least 50,000 words by the end of November. This comes out to 1666.66666666666666667 words a day. I don't like math so I round up to 1667.