PU Notes

The infamous PU Notes~

Well, im not really sure how it all started....or who started it for that matter....but well over 25 years ago one of the cousins (Greg, Christy, Denise, Teresa and myself) received their first PU note. Now let me explain....a PU note...is a note that describes how incredibly stinky and smelly the receiver of said PU note is! Some were very poetic in their description....some were comically illustrated.....and some were simplified to two bold letters.....PU! or.....PU to You!!!
Once the receiver finished reading their PU note, they would quickly take pen to paper to retaliate......er.....respond!
Since some of the cousins were in California and the others were in Colorado....this mostly took place thru the mail.....but it was particularly colorful and fun when we were visiting in the same state. We would create paper mailboxes, decorate them, and then tape them to our doors to receive the PU notes.....now why we would encourage receiving these dreaded PU notes....ill never know......but we did and we continued on this tradition for many many years! We even got as clever as hiding PU notes in unique places (such as rolled up in a toilet paper or paper towel roll....inside a shoe....behind a picture frame.....etc), so that when we left back home, the receiver could find notes long after the vacation visit was over!
Now why have i decided to share this story with you?.........well....about 4 years ago......after a long hiatus from the PU exchange.....a photo was sent out over the internet with the letters PU hidden in a family photo (thanks to Photoshop)......and since that photo.....it has once again kicked a family tradition back into gear.....
Soon holiday photos were being sent left and right with a secret message hidden in the photo....kinda like those fun hidden pictures we used to enjoy in the mini page. I, of course, not wanting to be outdone....immediately joined in! (nice to see my college degree hard at work). Our busy lives have kept us from keeping in touch as much as we would have liked, so who would have thought a silly childhood prank would once again bring us all closer together!
Isnt modern day email and Photoshop wonderful! Now this tradition can continue on!
My latest PU note, was to Greg.....i took a black sharpie pen and wrote a loving PU note on one of Jordyn's dirty diapers(hey, what better way to include her on this family tradition).....and placed it in his desk at work.....wont he be surprised! :)
To enjoy some of our recent PU bantering......go to Christy Wolfes photo website on smug mug where she has gathered these historical photos and cataloged them in a cleverly named folder "PU"! Enjoy!

Halloween Survey on a Snowy Morning~

Here is a Halloween survey that was passed along to me....
I enjoyed strolling down memory lane when i was filling it out.....
Feel free to answer and pass these questions on....or just read and enjoy!
cheers!

Halloween Survey

Childhood

1. Did you celebrate Halloween as a child? Oh yeah...Halloween is very big in California :)

2. Did your parents? yup....mom would dress up and take us trick or treating and dad stayed home to give out candy...Halloween is his birthday, so he would have a few neighbor dads over for cocktails while he handled the task of candygiver! :)

3. Scariest childhood Halloween moment(s)? I remember one house down the block that was always creepy to go up to....long....tall.....hedge to venture thru to get to the door......brrrrrr! i get chills just thinking about it! But all for the sake of a piece of candy :)

4. "Funnest" childhood Halloween moment(s)? One year a kid tried to do a bicycle drive-by and steal my candy....turned out to be someone from class.....and he only returned the bag because my mom shined a flash light on him and recognized him.:) Shannon exclaimed...... "oh...barbara, is that you....sorry!"

5. Favorite costume from childhood? hands down.....Darth Vadar (two years running!)

6. Do you still celebrate? Hell......i'll take any excuse i can get to dres up in a costume :) heheheh Your kids? I hope to pass on the tradition to Jordyn!

Teen years

7. Did you (or do you) do Halloween as a teen? Halloween parties that involved kegs...quarters...and sexy costumes! the infamous pirate parties were always a blast too!

8. Ever get stalked by a deranged maniac while babysitting on Halloween? Nope......but i was often creeped out about the idea while babysitting!

9. Ever "fool around" on Halloween? If so, with whom? no particular memories come to mind....though i remember making out with a guy from a punk rock band when i was only a freshman......boy did i think that was cool!

10. Illicit drug use or drinking on Halloween? (getting the gist yet?) Ill plead the 5th!

11. Favorite Halloween experience during your teen years? As i mentioned before.....the infamous pirate parties! Every year these folks would throw a Pirate party at halloween.....it was in a giant lot complete with pirate ship....treehouse.......casltes.....and plank walking! Awesome! I wonder if they still host them?

Adult years

12. Do your kids celebrate? If no kids, when you do have kids, will you let them celebrate? Jordyn is only 3 months old.....and has a 2 costume wardrobe change, complete with halloween purse and two halloween bibs.....does that answer your question :)

13. How special is Halloween as a holiday to you? i.e. religious beliefs, most fun, etc....It is my favorite Holiday.....and i always think of my father, since it is his birthday!

14. Sexiest Halloween Costume: S&M broad....i was quite popular in this get-up!

15. Scariest Halloween Costume: i liked my creepy old lady costume, though i scared a lot of children when i was dressed up as the evil queen from snow white!

16. Scariest Halloween musician; Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, or Ozzy Osborne? Marilyn Manson........what the FxxK!!!

17. Your plans this year for Halloween? To take Jordyn around to some of the neighbors and actually hand out candy instead of collecting it! that is.....if there isnt a blizzard :)
Usually every year Justins dads band (county road 74 e) plays a gig up the road from us at the becks garage.....with dancing.....socializing and some of the best damn pot luck food you can imagine......we dont get out much in the winter due to weather so the folks usually look forward to this one bash every year.......sadly they have no drummer.....so the party will be postponed.......the drummer is always an issue with this band....just like spinal tap!

Movies

18. Favorite horror or suspense movie? Halloween...the Shining...friday the thirteenth 1 & 2....sleepy hollow

19. Favorite movie psycho? how about those creepy twins in the shining?

20. Favorite monster? sheelob

21. favorite scream queen? michael jackson

22. Favorite zombie film? Does the Thriller video count? :)

23. Favorite horror director? tim burton....tho hes not necessarily horror

Trick or Treating

24. Favorite Halloween Candy? Reeses

25. Best place you've trick or treated? all of hawthorne in the 70's gave out great goodies

26. Do you, or have you, tricked? (no bad hooker jokes please) not on halloween....otherwise i am a constant trickster :)

27. Best (or worst, as the case may be) trick you've pulled? dont want to give out my secrets :)

Misc.

28. Your worst nightmare? bush in office for yet another term

29. Worst phobia?

30. Most fun you can have this Halloween? (make it good, last question!)

you forgot to ask best halloween party ever attended......
christy and brian threw an awesome party.....with fabulous costumes....a costume contest with trophies.....several kegs.....a rave room.....and a visit from the police and fire departments.....fun was had by all!!!

have fun!
love lisajo

The Great Pumpkin

Well, its time to celebrate the season......my favorite holiday.....Halloween! My family likes to celebrate it all month, so naturally, Jordyn has several costumes to get her thru the holiday :) This particular costume was purchased by grandma barbara, who we recently learned will be visiting for Thanksgiving..so we are very excited about that! I also like to celebrate the memory of my father, who passed away in February 2003 and was born on Halloween. I have fond memories of going trick or treating with my mom (who would also dress up and go with us), while my dad stayed home to give out candy to the kids. But he would still find time to enjoy his birthday, by having a few of the other dads in the neighborhood over, and they would drink Margaritas (or some other concoction he would cook up :) and listen to music......most likely the Eagles, a little CCR, or perhaps the Doobie Brothers! He loved to have a fire going, even though it was California...and not very cold.....so when we got home, we would warm up in front of the fireplace! Then, he would insist that we go thru our loot to make sure all of our candy was safe...to help with this, he would taste-test a few "questionable" looking snicker bars! Then, of course, there was always the excitement of awaiting "its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown".....which only aired once during the week....so you had to make sure it was marked in your TV guide and you didnt miss it (no videos to watch it over and over again like there is now)! My dad would make a giant pot of popcorn on the stove(no microwaves back then) and he would fill a giant brown paper shopping bag from Thriftymart, rolling down the sides for easier access, and we would all munch out on popcorn, watching the antics of snoopy....er.....the red baron....while the butter seeped thru the bag. Sometimes we would even splurge and have Jiffy Pop! I cant imagine a childhood without this Holiday.....every year we looked forward to picking out a costume......Wonder Woman.....Miss Piggie......Darth Vadar (actually i liked this one soooo much i wore it two years in a row).....and then there was the dreaded year my mom waited till the last minute to purchase a costume and Denise and i had to be Apes, from Planet of the Apes. My mom insisted they were cool costumes, but Denise and i felt otherwise! But at least we wore costumes....some kids today go out trick or treating and dont even bother to wear a costumes......just go from house to house expecting candy......wheres the fun in that? Dressing up and getting into character is half the fun.....perhaps thats why i play in the SCA! :)
Well....the baby is up so i better go.....ill share more holiday traditions next time..........
cheers~

Jordyn's First SCA Event

After a long sabbatical from the SCA due to maternity leave and baby adjusting, we finally made our first SCA event since March this last Saturday, September 30th. ~ Newcomers! This was Jordyns first SCA event... and many folks had not met her yet, so she was quite the celebrity! Even the Baron and Baroness of Caerthe stole her for their processional and morning court, which she lasted thru about 5 minutes :) heheeh (She definately must be my kid)
She did rather well though, and i think she had a fun time! Thanks to Vashti, Jordyn actually got in some nap time as well.....not to mention a break for mom and dad! Thanks Vashti!
Several Darbukans showed up, and that made the event even more spectacular! I wish there would have been more time for music, but perhaps next time. However, as Darbukans, we know the art of lounging too....so we did just that! As always, Jinain and i found ourselves discussing this art, and examined how we could perhaps perfect this skill....but we then realized that we had already mastered it......and so we toasted our talent and dawdled some more!
While Justin fenced, Jordyn and i shared a moment in the afternoon, among the shady trees listening to Kama Devi's tranquil harp....
"The Last Unicorn" floated thru the air of what seemed to be the perfect day! Golden leaves trickled down upon our blanket, and i enjoyed the cool grass between my toes. In the company of such wonderful family and friends, a glass of red wine and a delicious feast, thanks to Sadiq.......what more could you ask for.......this is what life is all about!

Mac Junkie ~

Well, what can i say....the kids gonna be a Mac Junkie just like her folks! i can remember my first computer art class in college.....Aldus Super Paint..........ugh! total nightmare! But a class we had to take as a pre-req for Photoshop. Now folks get started on Painter, a program ive never even used, but am considering buying. I sure wish we had computers and the internet when i was growing up. Remeber when you did a report on something in elementary school.....you would sit down with the dictionary and the encyclopedia and get to work....trying to re-arrange their sentences to sound like your own :) And if you were lucky, there might be an illustration included! Sure, a lot of the stuff on the internet is crap, but surfing on a daily basis teaches me lots of new things! Wanna learn to crochet.......look it up....and there will be images of every stitch.......how about cocktails......wanna try something new.....punch in Mojito......and whalah.....a recipe and a photo of a beautifully garnished drink. You can even find numerous art tutorials......read a magazine.....or just shop! hmmmmm......maybe having a computer when i was a kid may not have been a good idea......i might never have left the house! Never the less.......i do believe we are raising a future Mac Junkie!

Happy Harvest ~

The annual craft fair and quilt show was on Saturday and there were some beautiful quilts on display!  I entered this quilt along with the one that was given to Jordyn from Jan Simmons.   I tried to have this quilt ready in time for last years show, but wasnt quite quick enough...so here it is, a year later :)
As for the Sustainable Living Fair, they had terrible weather on Saturday, but Sunday turned out nice. They had a lot of interest in their booth, and Jordyn, Grandma Kristi and i made a trip down to check it out. (course i spent a great deal of time at the beer garden, but what can i say....they were serving fat tire!....thats right folks.....no coors light for me.....only cuz they didnt have it on tap! :)
Not much else going on up here....the leaves are starting to turn....and the air is getting cooler. Fall truly is my favorite time of year.   Its 37 degrees outside right now, and we have a fire going.....well.....had a fire going.   Justin just fell asleep on the couch and ive been typing away on his laptop and didnt realize the fire had gone out! doh!  Any minute now i should hear the bear outside ransacking the garbage! They are pretty mischevous at this time of year.  There is a mom and two cubs that keep coming around and tipping over our garbage to look for goodies.....they are none too happy about the diapers in the way of their midnight snack.....in fact they had the diapers strewn all over the meadow during their last raid.  Guess that was their way of tellin us they didnt like em!   I use cloth diapers as well, but the disposables are just too damn convenient for travel....so sorry yogi and boo boo!  Hows about i dont tip you off to Mr. Ranger! Fair Nuff? :) yup.....lifes pretty exciting up here in the canyon! :)

Sustainable Living Fair ~

hi again....for those of you interested....Justin and Dave have been working hard to prepare some alternative energy toys for their booth at the Sustainable Living Fare this weekend. Come by and check it out...there will be music, food, and lots of demonstrations and information about alternative energy. For more info about the fair go to the website..... www.sustainablelivingfair.org/  or if you cant make it, check out justins latest works on his site...... www.heliotrack.com/
thanks for stopping by!