Skeletons 2025: Hay, There!

Happy Halloween!

I've been a slacker in this space, but that doesn't mean that I've been slacking out here in the real world. This tends to be evident in my holiday decor, starting with Halloween and going strong through Christmas.

Tomorrow, the Halloween decorations will come down and Thanksgiving turkeys will take over, so today is a great day to highlight our skeleton display.

When we were talking about what I wanted our theme to be this year, Hugh practically begged me to incorporate my skeleton horse, so, after some thought, a haunted hay ride seemed like the best idea.

But! It wouldn't be Halloween at Casa de Chelle without a little witchy representation, so I knew I needed to make space for my witch trio as well.

The absolute beauty of this year's display is that I didn't have to purchase a single thing! I used costumes from years past, which means I more than got my money's worth when I originally purchased them. It also gave us a chance to reminisce about past displays, which was fun.

The display also went up really quickly and will also be a breeze to take down tomorrow, which makes it one of my favorite displays, ever.

Until next year, boney buddies!

Weekend Road Trip

 Friday, October 17th, Queen B and I loaded up the car and drove to Hooterville to pick up Mom for the drive to New Mexico for my nephew's wedding. Shanti and the Man-Cub drove separately, following us on the roughly four-hour-long trip.

We took a route that was new to me, so I wanted to stay together, despite modern technology making it nearly impossible for us to get lost. I'm Gen X, don't judge me.

We made it to our destination, and since Mom had arranged early check-in, we were able to relax for a bit before getting ready for the wedding. Then we posed for some mirror selfies before grabbing a quick bite to eat at the nearby Dairy Queen. Because we are fancy like that.

When we arrived at the venue, we were greeted by my niece and nephew (longtime readers may remember them as The Rodeo Princess and the Rebel Without a Pause). The wedding was a low-key affair, to the degree that there was no formally hired photographer or DJ, so Queen B was tasked with running the music from my nephew's cell phone. This came as a surprise to her, but she rocked it.

My nephew's relationship with his parents is sadly lacking, so he asked Mom if she would do him the honor of dancing with him for the Mother/Son dance, and she was, of course, happy to accept.

After the wedding, we joined my Aunt and Uncle at a local Italian restaurant for dinner. You wouldn't expect to find good Italian in New Mexico, but we were pleasantly surprised.

The following morning, we parted company with Shanti and the Cub, as they were joining the rest of the wedding party for a golf outing. Mom, Queen B, and I took our time getting home, stopping to visit a Native American jewelry store so that Mom and Queen B could peruse the turquoise, as well as at the largest antique mall in the area.

I scored two new pieces for my Dickens Christmas village (new to me, but older pieces), as well as another hen on a nest to add to my growing collection. It was a great stop.

By the time we got home, we were ready to relax and enjoy the remainder of Queen B's visit. It was so nice to see my nephew happily hitched, to see my Aunt and Uncle, and to have my little family together. These are the things that matter, and I am so blessed when the universe throws opportunities to be with them my way.

What's Up Wednesday, October 2025 Edition

 

I literally had to blow the dust off the keyboard before I started this post, such is the attention that I have paid to this space over the last few months. My best excuse is writer's block, so we'll go with that.

Anyhoodle, on to the post! And thank you to Sheaffer and Shay for the writing prompts; without them, I would accomplish absolutely nothing.

What I've Been Eating

Aside from teaching Queen B how to make my chili recipe while she was home visiting this month, I haven't really been spending much time in the kitchen. I have, however, had some really good restaurant meals, including pasta carbonara at a restaurant in New Mexico, where we went for my nephew's wedding; sadly, I forgot to take a picture of it. I did manage to take a picture of the pesto bruschetta that I had when we celebrated Shanti's birthday at the beginning of the month, so I'm not a total slacker.

Breakfast at a diner with Mom featured eggs Benedict, which remains my favorite way to eat eggs...

...and a black and blue burger from Queen B's favorite restaurant in Hooterville wasn't bad, either.

What I'm Loving

I loved having Queen B home for an entire week! We got to spend some quality time together on our road trip to the wedding in New Mexico, where we were joined by Shanti and the Man-Cub, Mom, and my Aunt and Uncle, who made the drive from Colorado's Front Range. Time with family is always my favorite. All that was missing was Hugh, who had to stay behind for work.

What I'm Reminiscing About

Nothing at the moment.

What I've Been Up To

Krisi and I grabbed a mutual friend and hit up a sourdough class last Friday. Kristi and our friend are brand new to sourdough, and while I am somewhat educated, I thought I could benefit from the workshop. I learned some new tricks and am now feeling more confident about trying another loaf.

What I'm Working On

I recently finished the application for our national charter reaccreditation and completed the documentation required for a site visit to monitor our largest federal grant. Each document took hours, and I am happy to have them off my plate.

What I'm Excited About

I have been waiting for Hugh to build a greenhouse for me since roughly 2020. We finally have some movement on that front! I spent hours online researching the greenhouse that I wanted, and we finally picked it up in early September. It then sat on our trailer until the middle of this month, when we finally had our old dog kennels removed, making way for it in the backyard. Queen B helped Hugh dismantle the kennels, and then the Man-Cub arrived to help us load the parts onto a trailer for Chris and Jana to take to their house. Chris and Jana then helped us transfer the boxes the greenhouse is in to the concrete pad where the kennel used to stand, and where the greenhouse will now live. Are we finished? by no means. Am I worried that the boxes will rot away in the winter snow that is statistically due to arrive any day now? Yes, yes, I am. But! I am closer than I was two months ago, so I choose optimism.

What I'm Dreading

I am entering into budgeting season at Not So New Job, which I hate on a good year; throw in federal funding cuts and a lot of uncertainty among donors, and it's especially nerve-wracking.

What I'm Reading

This month, I moved from cowboy smut to hockey smut (not mad about it) and am currently on book 3 of Chelsea Curto's DC Stars series. They are quick, fun reads with a nice heat and happy endings. Greatly entertaining.

What I'm Watching

I'm still sort of on a break from the television, and I haven't been to a movie in ages. I'm not even using the TV for background noise; I prefer the sound of our air purifier or the fan in our bedroom. I think this is benefiting my mental health. I do, however, scroll mindlessly through TikTok videos, my feed primarily consisting of ginger kitties being holy terrors, sourdough baking content, embroidery tips, and the occasional ghost sheet video, of course.

What I'm Listening To

I have expanded my smut intake from books to audiobooks. I especially enjoy books narrated by both a male and a female. I do have to pay attention to where I listen; I can't have people at work or in the gym figuring out that I have become a basic bitch who enjoys BookTok-level shenanigans. I'm a professional, after all. 

What I'm Wearing

I wore a sheet and sunglasses for a series of pictures my staff is doing for our annual Halloween social media post. It's not a fashion statement or anything, but the video we're releasing is hysterical.

What I'm Doing This Weekend

On Friday, we will celebrate Halloween by handing out candy to any trick-or-treaters who come knocking, although, with it falling on a Friday, and with the Petticoat Junction town council throwing a bash downtown, I don't know how many kids to expect. Hopefully a few, at least.

Saturday, I will be taking down all of my Halloween decorations (which several people have called me out for not doing as good a job of posting pictures on my social media accounts this year as I did in past years). I will then decorate for Thanksgiving, because we are hosting far-flung relatives this year, and it would be a shame to skip my turkeys, pilgrims, cornucopias, etc.

I love decorating for the holidays, so it will be a good weekend.

 

What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month

I am looking forward to having Thanksgiving at our house. As I said above, we have relatives coming who we don't traditionally see for the holiday, so I want to pull out all the stops. I got a smoking good deal on a 24-pound turkey and am already thinking about the menu for sides. Thanksgiving is the Olympics of food over here, and I am determined to medal.