D.S.A.

Tinydog is basically naked. His coat is thin and light, and his tiny pink belly has just the lightest coating of peach fuzz. He seems to be incapable of overheating even in triple digit temperatures. Despite my intentions of turning him into a dog, he is basically a Barbie doll and happiest in a sweater.

Shortly after we got him I realized the entire point of having a naked foo-foo sissydog is to dress him up.

I like to sew, and since acquiring Tinydog I have also learned how to knit. I also occasionally buy him sweaters. It's...kind of hard to stop.

The Grim Reaper and the HOA

On our front porch there is a 4' tall statue of the Grim Reaper. We bought it at a clearance sale right after Halloween, and we love it. We call him Grim.

At the time we bought him, we lived in a condo complex with a Home Owners Association. The HOA had Rules. Lots and lots of Rules. Tenants were not allowed to have plants on their balconies, patio furniture or barbecues, and any decorations had to be seasonal.

By July the HOA had changed their rules. Holiday decorations were only allowed within a week of the holiday they were celebrating. We move Grim inside until we moved out that September. He has remained a landmark in whatever neighborhood we are living in.

Christmas Tree

I love Christmas trees, and so do the Hellions, but for different reasons. The tree is basically a cat playground, and since we acquired the Hellions four years ago we haven't put anything breakable on the Christmas Tree. We could probably take some extraordinary measures to keep them out of it, but they have so much fun I actually feel a bit guilty depriving them of their seasonal escapades.

I am hideously allergic to real trees (pine, fir, oak, any trees, all trees) and so we always get fake ones. I like to get free fake trees on Craigslist of Freecycle and then give them away after the holidays so I don't have to store them all year. This past December I decided to get a 3' tall tree, both to save space and to maybe discourage the Hellions from enjoying it quite so much. It's too short to climb, so they can't climb it, right?

While they can't technically climb it, they can wrestle it into submission, which they did at every opportunity. The poor tree never spent more than five minutes upright for the entirety of its career here. The Hellions still had fun, though.

Reverse Trick or Treat!

Pirate? and I went trick or treating long after most people gave it up. Even in college we were going door-to-door in awesome costumes on Halloween. Eventually we gave it up and figured we would need to have or borrow kids in order to resume begging for candy on Halloween. A couple of years ago we threw a party and decided to go reverse trick or treating.

This was easily one of the most fun Halloween activities if you enjoy making other people's day a little more surreal.

Aside from confusion, the reactions we got varied widely.

Some people were trying to eliminate their candy supply, others were delighted. Most were bemused and sort of pleased despite having no idea what was going on. It made for a good night.