Three Screams for Halloween!

It should come as no surprise that I get totally into Halloween.

 It is, after all, an occasion where consuming entire bags of sugar isn't frowned upon.  

To commemorate this year's Halloween I decided to throw a party.  The day before the aforementioned soiree my kitchen rivaled grand central station; there were piles of cookie dough, an abundance of unwelcome chocolate morsels on the floor, egg shells cracking, and all the while the therapeutic sound of my whirling Kitchen Aid rang through the air.

Only a few baking items were harmed/manipulated in the making of so many treats, such as...

Scary strawberries!

Creepy cupcakes

Candy corn sugar cookies

These chocolate dipped pretzels and marshmallows were a hit; no bones about it!

Side note:  sometimes I make things that I wouldn't eat to avoid calories, like recipes involving pretzels.  I stand firm in my proclamation that pretzels taste like shredded furniture.

The dessert table, around which I linger like a hornet, grabbing sweets as if they're going to grow legs and run away.

Now for some of the decorations...

Dining room table

A musical globe that plays an eerily cheerful rendition of "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead."

May I note that decorations do nothing for Ryan; he thinks they're as useful as wet flour.  Clearly I don't share his opinion.

Halloween ornaments!

The little guy below is one of my favorites.  A) he's irrestiably adorable,  B) he isn't alive, and C) his job is to house candy.  I'm really fond of you, little buddy.  You won't be subjected to being squashed by a broom.

A CANDY house!!!

Along with the scary decorations comes an ironically frightening depiction of Hurricane Sandy's projected path.  What timing.

Get it??

Another KAT has entered the house!

You've got to make the best of a Halloween that falls in the middle of a work week.

I just LOVE these girls and was so thrilled to have them over!!! 

For our "real food" we had a mashed potato bar...

"Southern" green beans...

...and my first attempt at pulled pork BBQ.  Creating this dish was quite the experience.  There are, of course, no instructions that come with the "butt," so I used my mostly always loyal friend, the internet.  I kept adding various ingredients to it to get it just right and in the process kept stirring the meat.  What resulted was pureed barbecue soup.  Very tasty according to my kind dinner guests, but all that was missing was a Campbell's Moody label.

I now understand the phrase "don't stir the pot."

Next up was playing one of my all-time favorite games: "Game of Things."  Your topic may be "things you shouldn't do in a restaurant," for example.  Everyone writes a hilariously side splitting answer, and after the responses are read aloud we have to guess who wrote what.  Of course I never win this game, because my answers are always complete giveaways.  But I think that's half the fun : D

The inspiration for one of Megan's answers was right on this pillow.

One of the next topics was "things you wouldn't want to find in your bed," and my answer was "a Christmas urn."  My thought was that an urn would be really creepy and unwelcome, and the fact that it looked Christmasy would be funny. 

Little did I realize how funny.

"Katharine, do you know what an urn is??"

"YES- it's what you put ashes in, duh."

"So why would it be for Christmas???  You don't change out relatives with the seasons!  Alright, Aunt Sally, it's time to put you in the Easter urn..."

HAHHAHAHA!!! We seriously laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.

As I suspected, wouldn't you know that I could count on EBAY to prove myself.  SURE ENOUGH- they have Christmas urns for sale.

Happy resting in seasonal style.

We had a blast that night, and I am already plotting planning the next get together : D

In other news, some of our sales team volunteered at the Harvest Hope food distribution center last Friday.  We packed three HUNDRED boxes for needy families, and it was such a rewarding experience.  I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

Side note- guess who came to the volunteer fest in flip flops and had to change shoes to avoid crusing their toes with heavy cans?  Guess whose only other option was a pair of high heel boots from the trunk of the car?  Oops.

That night Ryan's Dad and Kevin came up for the USC/Tennessee game that will forever live in infamy.  

Unless you've been hiding under the covers with a pillow over your head you'd know about #21 Marcus Lattimore's injury during this game.  I grew up a Clemson fan, but I have to admit that the outpouring of love and support for such an incredibly talented and Christian player as Marcus has made me take another look at the Gamecocks.

His knee injury is extremely unfortunate, but I know our God, and I know His incredible ability to make miracles out of messes- and this can go for many situations.  I've never met Marcus, but my prayer is that God would use this injury to strengthen his testimony and lead him to touch even more people than he ever thought possible.

This brings me to another point: some of us will never have the chance to impact as many people as, say, football players or celebrities...but that doesn't mean our impact is any less important.  I don't believe God is concerned with how big our platform is, but how we use it.

Some of the weirdest jobs in the world include:  fortune cookie writers,  roadkill cleaners (wonder what lunch break is like...), a professional sleeper (are they hiring?), pet food testers (they don't know it's not bacon- or maybe they do), IMAX screen cleaners, a potato chip inspector (sign me up!), hand models, and the list continues.

I doubt that the Lord is going to ask us what "hat" we wore while on earth or what our rank was in the company; I believe our purpose is to be as big of a witness as you can in whatever you're doing.

I hope you'll take that thought with you this week.

Love,