A Blog by kaye.bee.

On Sunday I was watching Food Network Challenge and the subject of the challenge was pumpkin carving. One of the judges was from the National Haunted House Association. Once again proving that there really is a group for every interest in the world.

Incidentally, it also proves that I would be lost without the internet to google everything new I see or hear!

I know a few people from India and I was fortunate enough to learn a little bit about one of their major holidays this week. Right now is the festival of Diwali.  Learning about a custom in a book or on the internet pales in comparison to learning about another culture by talking to someone or experiencing it yourself.

Diwali is known as the Festival of Lights. It lasts for several days. The celebrations include eating sweets, visiting with relatives, lighting candles or turning on strands of lights, exchanging gifts, and letting off fireworks.

There are legends and religious meaning behind the holiday. It also signifies the beginning of the new year in the Indian calendar.

I got to try “Kaju”candy yesterday. It was small tan and flat. It had a nice nutty flavor, and not too sweet. The primary ingredient is cashews. As far as flavor, I joked that it was the international cousin of peanut butter fudge.

I am convinced that my husband and I should start celebrating a few holidays from different cultures in addition to our standard American holidays. I’m even willing to sacrifice a holiday or two that I am forced to celebrate now like Thanksgiving to add a new one like Diwali!

ok, maybe sweeping the nation is a bit too grandiose… but it is sweeping my household!

Dance Dance Revolution is a rhythm game where you step on a dance mat in coordination with symbols on the screen. I bought a copy of DDR Hottest Party 1 and 2 a couple of weeks ago. I loved playing DDR in the past and thought it would help motivate me to exercise. Its worked so far! I’ve played it on the Wii almost every day.

I wasn’t expecting much from the soundtrack as it usually consists of generic dance tunes. But, I was pleasantly surprised. A couple of the songs that stuck out to me right away were Karma Chamelon, Blue Monday, and Clocks. I recognize most of the others songs and they are all put to infectious dance beats that get stuck in your head for hours afterwards.

The Hottest Party on Wii has the option to use the Wii remote and nunchuck in addition to dancing with your feet. Unfortunately, that takes a higher level of coordination that I am currently displaying! So, I have turned off that option for now until I get a bit more practice on the songs with just my feet.

I get a real level of satisfaction from mastering a song on a more difficult level. I actually start to shout things at my husband, like, “Come and see me dance!” which sounds as foolish in person as it does on this computer screen.

Earlier in the year I was asked to coordinate a talent show. It sounded like something right up my alley and I couldn’t think of any reason to refuse. Especially when I hooked one of my friends into being my assistant on the spot.

It really wasn’t too bad. The most time and effort came in the days just prior to and including the day of the show. The day of the show was very busy, but I was lucky that I convinced friends and family to pitch in.  Probably the worst part was decorating the outdoor stage in the blazing heat. Now I know to decorate early in the day next time!

I also did worry about not having enough contestants at first, but by the day of the show I had enough contestants to fill three hours. Which turns out is more than enough talent for an audience sitting on hard bleachers!

When I agreed to do the talent show I had the opportunity to determine the prize money and the entry fee along with the sponsors of the event.  To me, the prize money was way too large given the entry fee. I was assured by the sponsors that they never make money on the talent show and that isn’t really the reason they have it every year.  I was disappointed that my event was doomed to be a monetary failure, but accepted it for what it was as it seemed to be an unchangeable fact.

Tonight, I went to a dinner/business meeting for the organization that sponsored the talent show. One of the agenda items was to review expenses vs. income for the past ten months. I was pleasantly surprised to see the line item for my talent show as expenses $1000 and income $1500. We made $500! OK, I recognize $500 isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but I was just so sure it was going to be in the red that I was thrilled that we made it ahead even that little bit!

Right after the event, I wasn’t convinced I would want to do the talent show again. I wasn’t even sure if they would want me to (it was hard for me to judge the success of the since I was so close to it). Tonight, they have asked if I would consider being the talent show coordinator again and this actually makes me want to do it and plan on making it more successful for next year!

I don’t want to spend all my time here writing selfish complaints about my life. I think it is important that I recognize some of my blessings to balance some of the negative thinking that has me down lately. Especially since in regards to in-laws, I know I am more fortunate than some people! My in-laws are absolutely wonderful!

Saturday night, my husband, dogs, and I all went down to their house to drop something off. As we were walking up, my father-in-law greeted us at the door. Right inside, my husband’s younger brother asked us to stay and watch a movie since we were there. He is 13 and I’m grateful that he hasn’t reached the stage where he pretends like he doesn’t know us while he sulks in another room. He still likes to spend time with us and talk to us about his day. They were getting ready to start The Hulk.

So, we stayed and visited and watched the movie. Its always nice to talk to them and I feel very comfortable in their house. They also don’t mind our dogs being there, which I know not everyone would be welcoming to two extra dogs in the house.

My brother-in-law D had been to play paintball earlier in the day and told us all about that. The funniest thing was that the “all time high scorer” at the paintball place shared the exact first and last name as my husband. So, we joked that he must be sneaking off to play paintball on a regular basis. He swears he has never been there, so I guess he has a namesake close by!

My mother-in-law fixed us a very fall snack of caramel and Gala apples which was delicious. She was also very concerned about me because I have been sick and made me hot green tea, gave me Vitamin C to take home with me, and some nighttime Airbourne that is supposed to help you relax and sleep. Very sweet!

I am so happy that I have my in-laws in my life and I consider them my friends!

To get this blog kick started I’m going to try my hand at National Blog Posting Month in November. What can I say? I’m a joiner!

I tend to be a little blue on Sundays. The whole day has a cloud of forboding over it because of the limited time before Monday. I don’t hate my work, so I don’t know why a return to work gives me that slight sense of dread, but it invariably does.

It has been a very lazy easy going day here.  This is quite contrary to the vision of the Sunday I had planned for myself to clean the kitchen, clean the windows in the great room, finally finish handing up my closet organiztion kit, and go to the grocery store. In fact, I have accomplished absolutely nothing on that list so far today! Unless, you count that one window I cleaned (tangent: how do people manage to avoid streaks without going through 25 rags or a roll of paper towels?)

I’ve had wonderful days where I did little more than  sleep, eat, watch tv, and surf the internet with abandon.  Those days are best enjoyed after hard work the day prior. Today, I didn’t get that deep sense of satisfaction from my lazy day. That’s probably because I feel like I have not accomplished anything for the last week! I’m feeling a bit blue and guilty for not taking advantage of this beautiful day to actually complete something.

Of course, I’m not feeling so guilty that I’m actually leaping up from the computer here to do any of those tasks either. LOL! At least, I can appreciate the cycle that laziness combined with guilt create!

There are a few reasons why I finally started a blog. Here is why I’m doing this:

• Lately, I’m often bored and lonely. I really need a hobby. um, really.
• I’ve kept journal most of my life until I moved in with my husband and I think it is time to reclaim that personal time to reflect.
• I really love reading other people’s blogs, and it seems like I should do more than lurk.
• I’ve been a little depressed lately. For no good reason really. I think it is because we just moved into a new house which is a wonderful thing, but the fact is that I always have a hard time adjusting to change–even good change. It has always eased my mind in the past to write my thoughts, feelings, and interesting happenings.

So, at this point, I would consider my blog an experiment. We’ll see how it goes.

I have often thought about starting a blog and just as often I have worried about what the blog should be called, what I would be willing to reveal about myself, and most perplexing, what to say in the very first post. I have put it a lot of pressure on myself to set the tone correctly by writing the perfect first post. Whatever perfectionistic/hyper-awareness that makes me think of these things is probably the same reason I always saved my favorite pictures in the coloring book for later when I was a child. I never could bring myself to color on those pages.  What if, heaven forbid, I made a mistake to forever mar the beautiful Pegasus or happy horse riding girl? As an adult that seems a terrible waste that I never enjoyed those pages. I’ve never been able to figure out the exact right thing to say in my first blog post. So, fighting against my natural urge to plan this beginning blog post forever, I instead decided just to write something. And hopefully every entry after this will be easier.