CURIOUS GEORGE

I should not say this but I am going to anyway since this is my blog. I cannot stand this monkey! Did not care for him when I was in kindergarten and I don't care for him now. It's like fingernails on chalkboard to me. However now since Mimi is in first grade and she is in a reading program, she gets to choose the books that she wants to read and of course she always picks George. So now I just have to suck it up. Ugh.....

PUMPKIN CARVING

Last weekend Mimi and Blake helped Halliwell decorate her house for Halloween. It's kind of nice when your good friends live in the same neighborhood as you.

This morning we all woke up and just kind of lounged around the house. Then dad took Mimi and Blake over to Kent Station to see Astroboy. They all had a good time, even dad said that the movie was pretty darn good. Especially the animation.

While they were at the movies, I brought lunch over to the Summit Gymnastics. Apparently they are having a judging training course this weekend. Debbie says that although our team has participated in a couple of competitions this Fall, we won't be very busy until the beginning of Jauary. Then we will be in full swing and super busy. As of now Mimi is still on probation until I think the end of November. Her first competition will be on November 14 and it will be an in-house competition which means she will be competing against her teammates.

As soon as I brought the people their lunch I thought that it would be a good idea to go to purchase me weekly provisions of Japanese food and so I did. Living out here in Maple Valley is not like Californina where I could easily go to the Mitsuwa Market anytime that I wanted too. Here it depends on the weather and although I don't have to drive clear into downtown anymore, it still takes a good 2-3 hours to get the shopping done.

We all made it home by 1:30 this afternoon. Just in time to go over to Halliwell's house for the pumpkin carving party. Although the kids had a blast, it just was not the same without Brandy. She had to fly back home to California on a family emergency and will be back here tomorrow.

PUMPKIN PROWL

It was the annual Pumpkin Prowl at the Woodland Park Zoo this weekend. Brandy said that she went last year with her family and it was a lot of fun. I am afraid that I have to differ. It was just OK for us. It is a very small zoo with way too many people with really small children and their strollers. Not that I have anything against kids and strollers but they were everywhere blocking the only pathway in and out of the zoo! I could not believe how the people would just stop and block our one and only pathway to chit chat with each other. It took us one hour to drive there, spent $21.00 for the tickets, wait almost one hour in line to go through the "Boo-Nasium" (haunted barn), have Mimi cry in the haunted barn, the witch, ghost and big weeping willow tree scared her, pay darn near $30.00 for four slices of pizza and three water bottles and that's it! That is not to mention that we had to wait another 30 minutes for the shuttle to take us back to our car and drive another hour home. Don't think that I will ever do this again,

GETTING READY FOR THE WINTER

There is definitly a cold chill in the air. Summer is gone and so is the warm beautiful weather we had. Poor ole' Butch is sooooo sad that we took his backyard swing apart and covered up the frame. When the weather was beautiful he would spend the whole day swinging himself in the swing. This past week while dad was at work and Mimi was in school, I spent the afternoon raking, cutting all of the dead leaves in our backyard, thinking the whole time about how I would have loved to have been a "well kept woman" especially when picking up Butches "treasures". While doing all of this yardwork, I tripped and slid across our muddy grass in the backyard while spewing out every curse word I could think of at the moment. I now have a humongous bruise on my right lower leg and upper right arm. They both are now a lovely shade of black and blue colors with a hint of yellow.

As they say, "things happen in threes". That particular day when I fell, Janet was limping to school so Keri told me, Blake fell at school and sustained a nice black and blue lump on the noggin and the next day grandpa fell at his new digs in the dinning hall. Fortunately we all were not badly injured and grandpa is doing just fine.

In the meantime I was able to get my Tulip bulbs planted so hopefully by next Spring I will have some beautiful Tulips growing. Last Friday night at the school's beach party dad was .........let's see........how can I put this delicately? In the doghouse along with Butch? Yeah, I guess I will just leave it at that. Well anyhoo, I was frustrated with him and so on Saturday morning I did what I always do when I get this way, I go shopping. A shopping I went too. Mimi was at Blake's and I had the car and the credit card. Smart man that dad is, he knew I was upset with him and to make up he painted over the plantar's that grandpa had given to me. We both did not care for the purple color that grandpa had painted them. All is well in the Putney household again. So now tomorrow I can plant my Hyacinths and hopefully they too will come out beautifully next Spring.