Pumpkin carving

We carved pumpkins this morning. First we went out in the yard and picked them from the vines. We then carved them indoors at the table. It was a mistake not to pick them last night and let them warm up overnight in our house. They spent the night outdoors, and it got down near freezing last night. Cold pumpkin goo is very unpleasant to stick one's hands in.

This is the first time we've ever grown our own pumpkins sucessfully for Halloween. Last year we got a bunch of nice pumpkins, but they arrived in early August. All were rotted by Halloween. We did cook and freeze the pulp of a couple, though, before they rotted.

I've been coming down with a cold the last couple days. My throat is killing me and my energy is gone. We skipped church this morning because I don't feel well enough to go and I certainly don't need to share my germs with the rest of the congregation. The kids have colds, too, but it's not wearing them down the way it is me. I guess I was already half-way worn out from the pregancy.

We did go to the doughnut shop this morning like we do every Sunday. The sunlight made my head throb so I kept my hands over my eyes on the way there. I got smarter on the way home, and wore my sunglasses. Later in the morning, after consuming Tylenol, Sudafed, and caffeine, I started to feel like a functional person again. Before I could take the Sudafed, I had to find the list of acceptable over-the-counter medicines during pregnancy I got from my ob/gyn. I see that Chlor-trimeton is the only cold medicine on the list, so I should probably think about getting some.

I sort of feel like taking a nap right now, but I don't trust the kids with no supervision. My husband is off mowing the lawn at his office and our new rental building. It's unlikely he'll be back so I can nap. I'm sure if he gets home before the day is over, he'll have a lot of stuff to do. Our own lawn is desperately in need of mowing.

Friday I went to shred some paperwork only to find the paper shredder only hummed. I looked down the paper feed area and saw a couple pennies. There is only one person in the house who would do a stupid thing like that so I got her to confess. My daughter is almost four and has no judgement. I tried getting the pennies out with a steak knife. Only one fell out. Then I tried pulling the other out with hemostats. I wasn't strong enough to work it out. Eventually my husband did. The shredder had taken a bite out of the penny. I plugged it back in and tried to shred some paper. It still only hummed. I looked down the paper feed area and could see yet another penny that wasn't visible before. I asked J how many she put in the shredder. She said she thought three. Her counting isn't always reliable, but it was that day. I had my husband extract the third penny, also partially chewed up by the shredder.

I am happy to say that the shredder works fine again. It is sort of ironic that the hemostat we used we got in the surical pack they let us keep at the emergency room after we had to take J there a year or so ago after she shoved a rock up her nose.