Pumpkin Patch Tip -- Go Early!

Our middle son's birthday is in late October and every year we celebrate by going to the pumpkin patch. It's usually not on his actual birthday, because the fun activities are only open on Saturday and Sunday. And we usually wind up going the last possible weekend.  Thanks to a news segment I saw Friday night, we tried something different this year.

We went on the first weekend they were open for the season. Guys, it was amazing!  There was no mud. (Last year I borrowed my daughter's car because I was so worried about the minivan getting stuck in their soupy parking lot.) It was warm, even when I wasn't running around chasing the boys. It wasn't raining. (Because it wasn't the last possible day, if there had been rain in the forecast we would've waited until next weekend.) There were hardly any people at all compared to the usual late October crowds.

This is going to be the plan for next year, because it was so much more fun and less stressful. The boys got to do every activity they wanted to do, over and over and over. I think they spent a couple of hours just jumping on the big inflatable pillow thing. (In case you couldn't guess, I brought my knitting and didn't mind sitting and waiting for them.)

I still don't like corn mazes all that much. It's easier when you're not carrying toddlers, and when the kids are old enough to either not dash off or find their way back if they do, but we did an awful lot of wandering and were thrilled just to find the entrance again.

I did make it all the way through the dark maze this year and found the exit instead of giving up, which is what we've being doing for the past three years. And I did it all by myself since the boys abandoned me in there.  

Now I really, really need a nap. 

Never Not Knitting

Get a little too obsessed with the sock knitting and pretty soon there's nothing new to write blog posts about. I spent a couple of hours knitting ribbing last night -- isn't that exciting? 

But look at this -- 

I put together this sampler on August 13. That means I've knit five and a half pairs of socks in forty-one days. And only one and a half of those pairs were plain stockinette.

No wonder there's nothing else to show you right now!

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {9/22/17}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts!

Paperbacks from Hell

I don't know exactly who the target audience for Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix is, but I'm definitely part of it. When I was a teenager I worked part time at a used bookstore and wound up meeting my husband there. I also read a lot of horror novels.

The books that Paperbacks from Hell talks about are the same books I was shelving and reading back then. I think I probably owned about half of the books mentioned and read quite a few of them. This book brought back all sorts of memories of the books I enjoyed and couple that scarred me for life.

I can tell you exactly where I bought Death Tour, in a little used book shop next to a consignment store that my mom was taking clothes to. I spent that night at Grandma's house, terrified by what I'd just read. I found the book again years later and reread it. As an adult, it wasn't nearly as scary as I remembered and I think that's what finally got it out of my head.

I can also tell you exactly where I saw a copy of The Mall, at a different used bookstore in  town. I don't know if I bought it, or if I ever actually read it, but that cover haunted me like you wouldn't believe. (Especially looking at it now, since it's not scary.)

Paperbacks from Hell was a fun walk down memory lane and I wound up calling my mother more than once to see if she still happened to have a specific title. I also wound up bringing home a huge stack of cheap books from the humane society's thrift shop. Paperbacks were three for a dollar and I grabbed up everything I could remember seeing mentioned. Sadly, there weren't any of those great Zebra covers with the skeletons.

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with a review copy. All opinions are my own.