~~Trick or Treat~~

We had a fun evening in Dahlonega tonight. We started the evening off modeling some costumes.
We had a Trapper with his basket full of pelts & a lovely Chinese Princess gracing our presence this year! We had a special guest too--as Daisy the Good Little Witch decided to go Trunk or Treating with us for the 1st time.


The church held a Trunk or Treat and the work that was put into the trunks were amazing!!
I was able to snap pics of just a few of the trunks we had --- Preacher Jeff had a Beach Trunk with sand and everything!! We had a Hot Dog, Ketchup and Cook Trunk and so much more!! Great job to everyone at Dahlonega United Methodist Church for putting on a great evening!!



We then headed to the square to Trick or Treat there. Good Witch Daisy was a huge hit and even got her own treats from Winnie the Pooh(one of the shop owners)!
Thankfully we went early as it was already crowded 30 mins after it "opened"!

All in all it was a wonderful evening and each of us had fun!!
~~~Halloween 2008

"Skull Pumpkin Disaster of 2008" or Why I do not play with knives....

Normally around the Boling household this time of year Craig is yielding the carving knife turning an average pumpkin into nothing short of a work of art. For some, as yet to be discovered reason, this year Eli asked me to carve his pumpkin. After repeatedly trying to convince him that I was not the best choice for this task, he assured me that he had faith I could do it! (this coming from the boy who can't draw a straight line --wonder where he got that from?!)

So begins the story of the Skull Pumpkin Disaster of 2008

--In the beginning there was a lowly pumpkin who had graced the table for a few weeks now. Waiting and watching while the White Pumpkin was fussed over for 2 nights, looking and longing while the Piglet took up a whole afternoon of precious time. Always wondering, "When will it be My turn?"

Alas!! The young Boling lad decided he was ready to have me turned into the masterpiece I was destined to become. After much research using the greatest tool ever invented(google) he decided on a devilishly scary skull pattern. He sent me to the guillotine to have my head removed, then with his trusty spoon he proceeded to remove my brains. It wasn't all roses and puppies as he & his sidekick Emma soon figured out.



With my innards all gutted I sat peacefully on the carefully arranged newspaper in anticipation of Mr. Boling working his carving skills on me(this is not something one takes lightly - as I have heard whispers of the creations this man has produced in past years). All of a sudden what is that I feel?!? It is the hands of the Mom----- an amateur!!
**GASP** How can they do this to me...Why are they doing this me? Taking my one shot in the spotlight....my 15 minutes of fame and throwing it into the hands of a pumpkin carving NEWBIE!! Who could be so cruel?!?!?!

I can hear Eli and Emma oh-so-innocently giving Mom the go ahead. "You can do!" they say "we have faith in you!" Why are they doing this? Have they not seen this womans attempts at drawing? Have they not been privy to her many sketches of various things that have ended with them being tossed like yesterday's news into the garbage while she slyly asks Mr.Boling to do the sketch for her?

For whatever reason they have resigned my fate to her and alas there is not a thing I can do but sit here and cringe as I wait for the 1st gut-wrenching poke of the knife. She actually takes the time to trace the design on. Trace- for heavens sake! Every Pumpkin knows that a true carver works totally by free-hand, that is the sign of a true professional, which is obviously Not whose hands I am in *sigh*

Arghhhh here it is, the 1st slice and it is a deep one!
"Jab...slice,slice,slice. Prob...wiggle, wiggle, wiggle."
Who in Halloween's name wiggles a knife while carving?!?
I beg one last time of you, Boling Children, save this poor helpless pumpkin before it is too late to turn back!!

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Anyone? Help?
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Ahhh it's over now, there is nothing I can do. The evil knife wiggler and the kids are looking at me now. Without ears it is difficult to determine what they are saying. The girl puts her hand over her mouth and looks at the Dad with an odd face.

What could they be thinking? Am I that bad? Oh Maybe I am actually better than they thought I would be? YES that is it!

WAIT--Emma is holding up the stencil for comparison.

Now Dad is laughing...Mom has a "I told you so" kinda look on her face... and now both the kids are laughing too!!




Oh Nooooooooooo How could this happen? Who was the mastermind behind this atrocity?
How did I go from a scary, tough, rugged looking skull to a crooked mouth, slack-jawed squarish looking cat?!?!

Even the candlelight does not do me justice!!

How can I ever hold this lopsided head up in public again? I will be the talk to Halloween Bashes everywhere and the laughing stock of Jack 'O Lantern Lane for all eternity!!




I beg of you Boling Family... Please, Please, Please do not ever let Mom use a knife on an unsuspecting pumpkin again! Have her stick to paper, paint, and glue -that is more up her alley and doesn't have any adverse reactions on a lowly Halloween creature such as myself. Please never let this type of disaster repeats itself in your household again!!

Thank you for allowing me to grace your porch this Halloween season despite my appearance.
Sincerly,
"What should have been a Devilishly Scary Skull Pumpkin were it not for the lack of skill in one woman's hands."
Halloween 08



**Please excuse any typing/wording errors :) **

The Great Piglet!

Emma's class is having a pumpkin contest this week and the only rules were Nothing Scary and No Carving. After lots of research Emma decided on a Pig!! On the way home from church we stopped off to pick out the perfect "pig"-which was a 20 minute debate, but we ended up with a keeper!
Add a little spray paint, scrap paper, mirrors, ribbon, and some bling for her tail ~~WaaaLaaaa we have a Pig!! Actually a "Piglet" according to Emma. Then we saw a commercial for the "Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown this afternoon and she declared the piglet .. The Great Piglet!!

--Now if Piglet can make it to school tomorrow with no issues we will be doing good!

The Comanche Indians and a Volcano

It was School Project week around here this week!

Emma has been studying Indians and her project was on the Comanche Indians. After a few days of research she decided to do some tepee's. She drew various designs on each tepee and then glued them on a wood base that Craig made her. We were having a hard time figuring out the fire that she wanted her Indians dancing around so I cut of some scrap-flowers and(if I do say so myself) ended up with a good looking fire.

She was so proud of her project and she got a 113 on it! WooHoooo



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Eli came home and announced he had a Volcano due in 2 days!! I pretty much flipped out at the short notice but that is actually all the time they had to do it in.(I am still not used to Middle School!!)

Thankfully Craig took over the lead on this project and came up with a great idea. Using Great Foam he and Eli made a neat Volcano and then painted it the different layers. It turned out great and Eli said everyone was impressed when he took it to school!

Laura or Mary Ingalls and YAY for the Letter B

Emma had Old Fashioned Day on Friday and on Thursday evening we figured out that we could not find the apron that goes with her outfit. After about an hour of looking high & low she simply decided to be Mary Ingalls instead of Laura because Mary is too old for an apron!
Then on Friday morning she wanted her hair in pig-tails like Laura!
--Without the apron but with oh-so-cute pigtails, she was adorable and had a great day despite the yucky weather!

Square Dancing: On Tuesday Emma came home so excited because our last name was at the beginning of the alphabet! I said why are you excited about that? Well it seems they got to pick partners for Square Dancing and the girls are who got to pick. Since her name is Boling she was the 1st girl. She picked Matthew who she is sweet one(but don't tell her I said that!) and was so excited!

On Friday morning I got to see the Square Dancing and couldn't help but laugh because in the beginning her and Matthew wouldn't even hold hands. Once they got to dancing however it was all Smiles from both of them!!

Drum Roll Please.....

After many false starts and a few choices words(from me) Emma & I finally finished with our White Pumpkin!!

It was a fun change from the usual carving(which Craig will do this weekend lol)

WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

I received this via email*Thanks Lisa!* and just couldn't resist sharing it!!
--It didn't have the Authors name but the message needs to be out there!!

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This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920

that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed
nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking
for the vote.

(Lucy Burns)
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing
went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of
'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping
for air.

(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her
head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate,
Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,
beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his
guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right
to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks
until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because-
-why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new
movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle
these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling
booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the
actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history,
saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk
about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.
'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use,
my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just
younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The
right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history,
social studies and government teachers would include the movie in
their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere
else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing,
but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think
a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so
hard for by these very courageous women.

Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote!!!!!!!!

Father's Day ----- 1980

YAY--I actually know the year of this set of photos!

They were taken on Father's Day in 1980!

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Here is Shalena with Uncle Marvin & Aunt Bill.
Looks like he got some new shirts!

We spent some wonderful times on that porch!!



Me enjoying the Comics
Looks like I was really enjoying them--that funny ole Snoopy!
(I still enjoy them!)


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Then we went up to Great-Grandma & Grandpa Chastain's for a picnic!

*I still laugh at myself when I think about how "FAR" it was up to their house.
It seemed like it took forever to get there when I young!*

Lookie at that spread!



My Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Chastain
--When I saw these I could hear Grandma asking if I wanted some cake and then Grandpa saying "Heavens--Why would you ask her that! You know she does" :):)



My Grandma and Grandpa Chastain
--I am so happy they were able to know Eli & Emma!!



Me and then Aunt Gail & Shay!
Shay always did have the nice thick hair grrr haha

~~Jack O Lanterns~~

Ok so I am gonna take a detour from reminiscing for today and share some of the "WOW" Jack O' Lanterns I have come across recently.

I find myself wanting to do more than the norm this year thanks to these and the Painted Pumpkins Post :) I am sure Craig is already tired of me saying "I need to find some white pumpkins" haah

The majority of the photos are from Better Homes & Garden and Country Living
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Witchy Poo and a neat "Vase"

Mummies!!!

People monogram EVERYTHING these days!!

These are too cool!!! Love the truck!

So different!



LEAVES--I love it!!!

I'm obsessed!!

Ok there is no doubt about it--I am obsessed with photos from the past these days!

I am just gonna call October -- Olde Photo Month!!

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Here are some that Prove why I like some of the things that I like...

Six Flags!! I think I was a little excited!!

I still love the Fair!!

Learning to Drive LOL

I just love this one of Shay & I!

The Good Ole Days...

I am still finding photos from the past but this post I am pretty sure are the "oldest" ones I have.

I am so tickled to have these and am going to frame them to hang.
Note: Shay and Daddy--I will have copies made for y'all! :)

I am naming the people to the best of my ability! Feel free to comment and let me know the ones I misname or miss!

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The first one is Aunt Joyce and *I am unsure who the little boy is*

*Unsure on these* I wish I knew the year these were taken.
The boy in the overalls looks like Daddy but I am not 100% Sure!



Aunt Joyce and some kids



Uncle Arthur Ben Samples, Uncle Marvin Phillips, Grandpa Buddy Samples(I think),the other 5 Guys I am not sure about.


Unsure on these girls



Can't see the faces but I love the truck!

More to come!!!