Happy Halloween

I have to stay, I do quite like Halloween. As a child, I can only remember going trick-or-treating up and down the street possibly once. My Mum for some reason never really liked us doing that. So most of my halloween memories revolve around going to each different family members homes. Me and my two brothers and our cousins Chris & Chloe would all dress up together, then we would bundle into the car. We'd go to my Nannan's, Uncle Andrew & Aunty Michelle's, Uncle Patrick's & Aunty Julie's & then the pinnacle my Aunty Debbie's. Aunty Debbie would always have put up spooky decorations and have a proper Halloween costume. And she would make little spooky games for us to play. Plus she'd give us loads of sweets too. I absolutely loved it as a child. To be fair, I think that I would love it as an adult too. Good memories.Now I'm older and Halloween no longer means dressing up and knocking on random people's doors or visiting all of my family dressed as a black cat or witch. What I loved about those childhood costumes was that I would literally just have my face painted and basically wear a black bin bag and KAPOW! I was a cat or witch. I look forward to dressing my kids in bin liners.

The sad thing about Halloween is year that me & Mr. K live in an apartment now which is quite hidden away from any main roads or houses. So no cute trick-or-treaters come to the door. The good thing about Halloween this year is the YSA house party that we went to. FUN. TIMES. Mr. K made a robot outfit from cardboard boxes and tin foil. A very crude creation but everyone loved it. Best costume there I think. And I went dressed as Where's Wally. Less creative but appropriate nonetheless.

Check out me & Mr. K in the background. Also worth note are the M&Ms, karate kid & thunderbird.

Speaking of costumes reminds me of a story that Mr. K told me a few days ago. We were discussing what we were going to go to this party and he told me about a time he went to a fancy dress child as a child. All his little friends were dressed as vampires and zombies and ghosts and things like that. Scary Halloween things. And do you know what Mr. K was sent as? His Mum put him in his church suit, but with the jacket & trousers of backwards and so back-to-front-man was created. Pure genius. That story absolutely cracked me up.

Dropping some Zzzzzz

This picture basically sums up my mood today. Grumpy.

Today I am tired. And don't feel like saying much. I've been in a grumpy mood for most of the day and as a general rule I don't take my grumpiness out on anyone. Anyone other than Mr. K that is. Sometimes I wonder how he puts up with me. Seriously, I can be a nightmare.

Precious

Today I have learnt a few precious truths. And when I say precious truths, I also mean truths that are very precious.

1). Today I spent some time with my precious friend Heidi. She has hair like Rapunzel. Long, blonde and gloriously and perfectly wavy. I played chauffeur to Heidi just for ten minutes and those ten minutes I learnt how precious it is to talk to friends. Heidi is American. I listened as she told me about her family Halloween traditions. I wish that in England we made as much of a big deal about Halloween as they do in America. I love pumpkins. And any occasion where you can dress up, knock of people's doors and get bucket loads of sweets for free is fine by me.

2). Today I learnt that life is unexpected and precious. I used to work in a little gift boutique shop near to wear I live that is owned by a lovely lady called Amanda. Amanda had a friend called Howard. He was a nice oldish man with white hair and an energetic dog. He was a very handy man and would come into the shop to fix and broken stock that we had or change lightbulbs and over man jobs like that. Anyway, I haven't worked in the shop for about three months and last time I saw Howard he filled his life doing all the things that he loved. (If you note that I'm writing all this in the past tense you can probably see where this is going.) I went past the shop today and decide to pop in to say hello to whoever was working. It was Helen that was in. Maybe I'll write about Helen another day. But Helen told me that yesterday Howard died. About two months ago he was complaining of back pains. It turned out he had cancer of the kidney, liver and lungs. That was the last piece of news I expected to hear today. And I know it's a cliche, but life is short. And life is such a blessing. It's so important to live life. Not to spend time and energy worrying and moaning but to fill it with things and people that you love.

3). Today I learnt how precious it is not to be ignorant towards other religions. I take a class called 'Religions of the World'. It's quite obvious what the content of the class is. Today we looked at Sikhism. I have a new found respect for Sikh's. I'm not sure that I've ever met a Sikh. But there is a Sikh temple not too far from where I live. Maybe I'll go visit it one day.

Today I learnt three precious truths. Well, three truths that precious.

After Eights & French

As much as I love After Eights (chocolate and mint together) have you ever considered that have another use.... Have you ever played the game, where you put an After Eight on your forehead and have to wiggle and manoeuvre your face so that it slowly makes its way to your mouth? It's a much loved game that we've played at many a family get together. The best thing about it is how funny it is when people can't really do it and have it on their face for so long that they get a lovely chocolate brown streak down their face. Less messily (and probably less funnily) you can play the same game with a pringle. But seriously, give the After Eight a try. Do people buy After Eights at any time other than Christmas? And possibly if there having a dinner party? Does any one just buy after eights as a chocolatey treat like they would with Malteasers or Minstrels? Just wondering.

On a more 'journal' type of note, today was another busy day. Long day spent entirely at university. Tuesday is French day. French language & inter-cultural understanding. I like them both. Hopefully I should find out tomorrow if I can go to France in January for a month to do my teaching practice there this year. How terrifying would that be? Teaching a class of French children IN FRENCH! They will probably run circles around me. But if I can teach a class in France, then surely there isn't any aspect of teaching in England that I can't do!

And now I'm back at home and I'm hungry. And I mean HUNGRY. But my lovely Mr. K is making me dinner. Even though he got home after I did. He is just lovely. And I just went into the kitchen and he's managed to make the gorgeously fluffy rice. Even more lovely.

1, 2, 3 things done today

Up until this point, when I'm full of stir fry and cuddled up on the sofa, today has been exhausting. Not exhausting in a way that has meant that I've got lots of my jobs done (and I do have a list of jobs as long as my arm) but exhausting in a way where I've just been on the go right from the moment my alarm clock went off. I wish I could remember what song it was that I woke up to today. (Just on a complete side note, don't you love it when you peel off the yogurt lid and the top of the yogurt is still in one luscious layer?!) Really, I've only done three things so far today.

1). I had a Relief Society presidency meeting. I can't wait until I know all of the sister in the ward. Actually, before that, I can't wait until I know all of their lovely names.

2). I did the food shopping. Oh how I love Asda. I spent a little too much today though. Probably because I bought thermal socks & tights. The weather is definitely starting to make these items essential.

3). A very, very long lecture about assessment and information sharing. Lots of case studies, lots of notes and lots of quite severe boredom. Actually, I exaggerate, it wasn't so bad.

And then I had a lovely chat with my Mumma while I walked back to my car in the glorious cool autumn sun. My Mumma is quite a remarkable woman.

Likes & Likeables

I was thinking about what I wanted to write about today and I came to the conclusion that I don't feel like I can fully launch into diary mode. I still feel like I need to introduce myself. So, after all that I am comes my likes and likeable. And there are probably a lot.

I like my husband. Well, I quite like him a lot more than just a like. But he's my first like. I like my Mum, Dad & brothers. I seem to like my brothers more and more as they get older. I think that's what happens with all siblings. You love them unconditionally right from birth but you grow to like them more and more as you all mature. I like my friends. I like giving nicknames to my friends and I like even more when they catch on.

I like the changing seasons. I like crisp autumn days that are bright with sun. I like the rain. I like to be inside whilst it rains. I like being snuggled up in a blanket on the sofa watching Ugly Betty. I like really getting into watching a series of something and buying the DVD so me & Mr. K can watch them all over about three days.

I like willow trees and photographs. I like melons and beads, chocolate spread on toast and pain au chocolats. I like the film Chocolat and I especially like the soundtrack. I like singing Robbie Williams with my Dad in the car. I like raspberry mousse with the crunchy seeds left in. I like cooking. I especially like cooking something new that Mr. K & I end up loving.

I like having pretty, matching sets of pyjamas. I like waking up in the morning warm and ready for the day. I like productive, full days spent in the library at university and I love lazy duvet days.

I like being hopeful and faithful and having something to truly believe in. I like doing random, nice things for other people. I like having people do nice things for me. I like learning new things and I like teaching new things to other people too.

There are lots of things that I like. And in hindsight, I'd like to change my first like, my husband Mr. K to an very strong, unequivocal, eternal LOVE.

All that I am.

I am Becky. I am wife, daughter, sister, cousin, grandchild, great-grand child and Aunty. I am a best friend, a regular friend and an ex-housemate to few. I am a student primary school teacher and institute student. I am second counsellor on the Relief Society presidency in my ward. I am a cook, cleaner, baker, personal shopper and taxi. I am a lover of Christmas, birthdays, Easter and generally all holidays. I am a gift giver. I am a moaner, I am a procrastinator, I am irrational, I am grumpy, I am a worrier. I am optimistic, I am organised, I am tidy, I am hopeful, I am faithful, I am believing, I am caring, I am happy. Once again, I am Becky. And now that I've introduced myself, let's begin.