Hallowe'en Festivities!

We had a great Hallowe'en weekend!

On Friday, Adam's office had a Hallowe'en party, so I dressed up and brought Mr. Oliver with me. :) Adam went as U.K. Adam since he had several meetings that day. However, even though I had several meetings at the Arboretum, I still went crazy and went all-out Harry Potter. Gryffindor-red shirt, jeans, sneakers, green cloak, wand (from Ollivander's--natch!), scar, Hogwarts baseball cap, crazy wild hair. It's pretty great to be weird like me! Sometimes. Oliver went as a bat, courtesy of his DADDY who bought him the costume to please Mommy. Oliver wasn't amused, but he was cute.

Oliver is flying! Britain...here we come!!

Here are pictures of our Hallowe'en decorations:

Ghost lights above, Pumpkin lights on the side

My husband thought I had carved these pumpkins! Umm, they're plastic, and I've had then for 5 years. :)

Our picked pumpkins didn't get carved (too little time!), but they're still great decorations!

Our house must have been attractive...because we had a whole bunch of trick-or-treaters! :) Hope y'all had as Happy a Hallowe'en as we did! After the trick-or-treating, we had pizza and wine and snuggled on the couch remembering our engagement day last year! I love my husband!

Don't worry...Rally for Sanity/Fear post coming soon!!

Hallowe'en Cupcakes!

I made some Hallowe'en cupcakes! Yum, yum!!

What do you think? :)

Frederick (MD and Cope)

This blog post is quite delayed--but 'tis better later than never! In late August, Adam, Oliver, and I drove up to Frederick, Maryland to visit our friend Frederick, who had recently moved there to start teaching at Frederick Community College. Yes, we basically said the word "Frederick" a thousand times a day when we were there! And, of course, we said "Roll Tide!" ten thousand times a day!! :)

Three Bama fans out for a stroll!

It was wonderful visiting with Frederick (the friend), and we quite enjoyed exploring the cute, quaint downtown area of Frederick (the town). They had finished a downtown canal project a few years ago, and the artistry was simply extraordinary.

View of a section of the canal

Frederick and Cathy

Adam and Cathy

One of the gorgeous bridges (yep, that's me on top!)

The town spent quite a bit of money redesigning the Canal area, and they decided to paint a section to look like cobbled stonewalls with inset art images. Keep in mind, all of this is actually PAINTED. The depth and perspective were AMAZING. You simply must plan a visit to enjoy it in person!

We're exploring the bridge!

Frederick and Adam pretending to enter some sort of Narnia-like land

Another view of the mysterious "door"...yes all that ivy is just paint!

This was a crazy, Holstein-like painting. Depending on where you stand, the girl
seems to be looking straight at you. It's awesome.

Straight-on view of the pic above.

A penny! (Dollar bill for perspective.)

What looks like an in-set statue...still, it's all just painted perspective. :)

A very neat pseudo-fountain. Also, all those "stones" are just painted. Also, that duck in the bottom is just paint too!!!

Sunflowers are sweet

Another painted picture....these were just all over the place on the Canal bridge.

Here are some other pictures of the rest of the town!

A pretty fountain

The library--very swanky!

A cute little passageway into a garden, lunch spot. Very Victorian!

Frederick got lost down an alley.

One last cute picture of the Copelands!

We had a wonderful trip, and we hope to visit again soon. :) I highly suggest going there for a little trip if you ever get the chance. It'd be a fun place to have family photos or something....

An Homage to the Football Gnome

I had to purchase a book from Amazon in early August. My purchase was a small amount away from the amount needed to have free shipping, so Adam and I looked through low-priced options to bump us up to free shipping status. We found a gnome....an Alabama gnome....a LUCKY Alabama gnome!

I adore gnomes and all things supernatural/fantastical. So, after intense brainstorming (sorry to Frederick Cope for having to hear all of our ideas), we settled on calling the gnome "Denny Chimes." It has a nice ring to it. ;)


Before each game, he is gently placed in front of the television, so that he can send positive vibes and goodwill to the players. After the game, we've been taking a picture of all participants in said game. So, here are the games, the Copelands, the guests, and Denny Chimes!!

09/14/2010: Alabama vs. San Jose State
Score: 48-3...a WIN, of course!
Picture: Adam, Cathy, and Oliver Copeland + Frederick and Penny Cope

09/11/2010: Alabama vs. Penn State
Score: 24-3...chalk it up to a WIN!
Picture: The Copelands + Frederick and Penny Cope


09/18/2010: Alabama vs. Duke
Score: 62-13...they may have good b-ball, but Bama WON this f-ball match!
Picture: The Copelands + Chad Hammock


09/25/2010: Alabama vs. Arkansas
Score: 24-20...it was a tough one to watch, but we got the WIN!
Picture: The Copelands


10/2/2010: Alabama vs. Florida
Score: 31-6...it was enough to make Tebow cry, 'cause Bama WON!
Picture: The Copelands


10/09/2010: Alabama vs. South Carolina
Score: 35-21...those stupid gamecocks; Bama LOST but we'll get 'em in the SEC Championship!
Pictures: A very sad set of Copelands, and an ANGRY set of Copelands

More pictures, like more football and more Bama WINS, to come!
Roll Tide!
Go Denny Chimes!
RTR.

To the Pumpkin Patch!

Adam and I spent an enjoyable time picking out some pumpkins today. :) We didn't know where the closest pumpkin patch was, so, thank you Google, for helping us find one that didn't charge an entrance fee and was a new experience for the both of us. I had only been to pumpkin farms where the pumpkins had already been picked and were laying in piles. At this Pumpkin Patch, they gave you a wagon/wheelbarrow and a pair of cutters. We got to wheel along and, when we found a suitable pumpkin, cut it straight from the vine. Pretty darn cool!

Here are some of the giant pumpkins:





Among the pumpkins:






See the bolt clippers! Yikes!



Walking with the wagon:


Some beautiful views of the Pumpkin Patch. :) There were so many different types of pumpkins; it was truly amazing. The first view is of the castle, the play-area for the kiddies. Although we didn't go in it, it was fun to see.





What a fabulous day!

I'll post pictures of our carvings of the pumpkins when we do carve them. Cheers!!

Roll Tide!

4th quarter, 3:31 to go. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but IF Bama loses, I'm going to be sad. However, I'm going to even more determined to cheer Bama on to future victories! And, maybe, Bama will be even MORE focused.

Regardless, I'm disgusted with the Gamecocks. Their name is truly offensive, and I don't think any team with the mascot of a Gamecock should be allowed in proper society. It's disgusting.

Yes, I'm mad. Don't think I'm going to be a happy worker for this next week.

My Life is Foreign To Me

My blog title sounds like a Britney Spears' song. Sorry! :) I'm a Slave 2 Her?

Anyway, I just have not figured out my life. I'm still dealing with not working in a doctoral program anymore. So, when offered 4 sections of teaching, I snapped it up because (heck!) I'm used to teaching two classes and taking two classes....that should equal the same amount of work, right? NO! It doesn't. I'm prepping multiple courses and am working for two schools (double the regulations, double the requirements, etc) and I have nearly 100 students--all of whom are turning in multiple composition essays. It's just too much.

In addition, I'm not used to being married. In my bachelorette life, if I wanted to work all evening (as I often did), I could. But I want to spend time with my husband, and the only time we have is at the end of the work-day or on the weekends. When I created my schedule, I thought that I could work at a combination of my three jobs 8-5 almost everyday and then I'd find time to grade later in the evening. But that's just not working. I need to have grading built into my day because I am seriously killing myself. I don't eat breakfast, don't have time for lunch, and don't let myself have bathroom breaks. I'm worn out but can't fall asleep at night because I'm too worried about what I haven't gotten to yet. I'm a mess.

I'm truly grateful for my jobs, and I realize that this problem is all my fault. Also, I realize that I will not (can not!!) accept as many teaching jobs for Spring 2011, so I will be able to build grading time into my workday. But if anyone has suggestions on how to deal with all of this, please let me know. I'm seriously crumbling under all this stress (and all the papers). All I wanted was a job being a professor...but now I just want a job that ends--truly ENDS--at 5 p.m. And, geez, even with my three jobs, I'm still making three times less than my husband. I'm an idiot for pushing myself so hard for so little money.

Help??? Please!!!