"Hand"kin carving

The best part of Halloween is carving pumpkins!! I absolutely LOVE carving pumpkins and the more intricate, the better. I have even taken a few days off of work before Halloween just to carve pumpkins. Each year I chose a theme, some have been Wizard of Oz, Michael Jackson, and Charlie Brown. This year I had to make my theme Hands. There were surprisingly a lot of patterns on the web for hands which delighted me immensely. However, my hands take a beating in the process. I have scrapes, cuts, and get pumpkin guts jammed under my fingernails (which KILLS!!).

Foot Long Fingers (almost)

If you build a fire, you have to roast hot dogs. I twisted wire to make a hand and used the franks for fingers. The wire wasn't as strong as it should be, so I had to use a stick to support it while roasting and photo ops. They were delicious too!!

A Hand in the Fire

I am not an expert fire starter but I can hold my own. This is a combo of a star fire and log cabin. It is fun having a portable fire pit so I can smell like camp fire whenever I want to, Bleh!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my Mom's XX birthday. I reminded her of how old she was today and I don't think she appreciated it! Her favorite treat is a chocolate donut and her favorite color is blue (it is hard to tell but the candles are blue). So combining the two makes for a great birthday treat. We were just a few candles short of her age though. That would have been a crazy hand had I used a candle for each year! Love ya Mom!!!

Rememberance Hand

In honor of the 10th anniversary of 09/11, I had to make a hand depicting the World Trade Centers. This universal sign of peace is not the real sign in ASL, but I thought it appropriate for the occasion. Just as everyone else knows where they were when they found out about the attacks, I too remember. I was still asleep on the sofa in our living room and my sister, who was going to the doctor's that day and I was taking her, had turned on the TV and I awoke to the frightening news. I don't remember when I awoke or what first saw. I think I was just in a daze, not understanding what had happened. After dropping my sister off at the doctor's office, I went to the fabric store that I used to work at to buy some camo fabric to make a skirt (go figure!). While there, I was talking to my coworkers about it and Dawn, a mildly handicapped girl that helped out at the store, joined in the conversation. She told me that 2 planes crashed into the World Trade Centers and they should have been more careful. I, regretfully now, told her that I think they did it on purpose. She looked down for a bit with a confused look on her face, said "Oh" and walked away. I felt, and still do feel bad for admitting that terrible truth to her. She was so innocent and sweet but that great evil had to creep in to all of our lives. God Bless America!!

Peanut Hand

Saturday night, my family and I went to Texas Roadhouse. It was really good this time. Usually it is just mediocre, but it was super good tonight with lots of leftovers. The only downfall was it was Freemont's Homecoming that night and there were tons of giggly high school kids everywhere.

Beaded Hand

I found these gradating beads at the store a while back and thought they would make a great hand. So after adding other beads I had "on hand", here is another hand.