Pumpkins, Scrooge, & Sandy

Mark and I love carving pumpkins for Halloween.  We don't get to experience Halloween through our kid's eyes yet, but at least we can feel like kids for an evening.  We ordered pizza, watched Hocus Pocus, and did our best to out-do the other.  I carved the mummy and Mark carved the funny face.   Usually Mark's look 100x better than mine, however this year I fill like we're at least a little more even.  It's my best so far...maybe by the time we've been married for 10 years our pumpkins will be equally well done.

Carving pumpkins is probably the only Halloween festivities we'll be participating in this year.  The award winning Aquadarians of last year have been having problems being creative this year since we've been told we have to stick to the theme "Tim Burton".  Nothing seems to be the perfect idea or award winning and time has pretty much run out. :-(   On top of that I've decided to be stingy this year and not feed the masses of children that are trucked into our neighborhood.  Last year we spent about $100 on candy (it wasn't even the expensive stuff), there were families in the neighborhood who took their kids trick-or-treating but never handed out candy from their homes, and we had well over 200 kids brought into our neighborhood from local apartment complexes.  I totally get why people want to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood - the houses are close together and the streets are nice and flat  - but, since there are less than 200 kids that live in the neighborhood it more than doubles the amount of candy we have to provide.  I'm not really happy that I spend money to provide candy to kids who's parents aren't buying candy to share with others.  I kind of picture Halloween as a "give and take" holiday.  If your child is taking candy, it's only fair that you give candy to other children.  We don't have children (duh) so I end up only spending money to be nice, and I've decided that I'm not that nice.  Call me Scrooge, but I'm protesting!  The 507 Eaton candy store is gonna be closed tomorrow.  However, in my defense, I'm not completely boycotting the candy giving tradition.  I've put together treat bags for the families in the neighborhood who have kids that we know.  I've got about 15 cute little candy filled bags waiting for the Christensens, Shivelys, Cudes, Binghams, Lawsons, and  Chandlers.  I'll go back to giving out candy when I have kids who are taking candy or when our bank account recovers from this fall's up-spike in medical bills...whichever happens first.

My other major though process this week has been about Sandy.  I was watching the news yesterday and they were talking about how grocery store shelves were empty, people were paying scalpers on the side of the road $10 for a pack of D batteries, how important it was to go buy water, and to be prepared for a major power outage.  It made me smile, because even though I'm sure I would still go to the store for a few things I would like, I don't think we would have needed to go to a store if we were in Sandy's path.  After moving to Arkansas & buying a home we've been able to store up batteries, about 25 gallons of drinking water, enough food for a few weeks of prepared dinners/breakfasts + pantry items, we have lots of flashlights and oil lamps, propane for cooking, and even an emergency toilet so we don't have to use water for flushing toilets.  I'm feeling rather proud of myself at this point!  We still have things we want to get, but we're taking it step by step and now that I have a reference point we're doing pretty well.  The sad part is that a hurricane or power outage is very different from a tornado-our most likely disaster.  If there is a tornado that hits our neighborhood we do have the storm shelter, but unfortunately most of our emergency supplies may get blown away.  We're so nervous that we'll have to squeeze 30 people into the shelter that we're keeping the bulk of our supplies in the house.  We only have about 2-3 days of food and water for 2 people in the shelter.  So if you're in Bentonville and thinking your going to survive in our shelter for a few days...rethink that idea!  We're seriously thinking of selling spots on a yearly contract that will require families to bring a 72 hr. kit for themselves.  That seems fair right?  People pay car and home insurance, I'd bet they pay tornado shelter insurance too if given the option.  Plus it will eventually help us recover some of what it cost to put in.

Anyway...Happy Halloween Y'all!  Be safe and have fun! I can't wait to see pictures of all the cute goblins and ghosts go up on everyone's blogs!