NOW It Feels Like Autumn
Filed Under: My Daughter, My Son, Parenting
(Alternate title: The $11 Pumpkins I STILL Can’t Believe I Bought)
We’ve had some crazy warm weather the past week and I hadn’t really been in the autumn/Halloween mood. Then I spiffed up my blog with some new graphics (yes - I did these graphics myself!). I sold C’s Halloween costume from last year on eBay, making enough money to clear both costumes for this year (L will be a Bionicle and C a monkey). And today we went on an apple picking / cider press demo / hay ride adventure with our homeschool group at a local farm. Just look at these cute photos.
L picks an apple:
After the apple picking, we stopped at the farm stand to satisfy my sugar addiction support the farm and buy some cinnamon sugar donuts and apple cider. I also let the kids pick out pumpkins. I’d heard that the pumpkin crop this year is really bad and I didn’t think we’d be getting to a pumpkin patch in the next couple weeks. So we picked out a couple nice big ones to carve Jack-o-Lanterns. I carried one in each hand over to the scale. I’m thinking, maybe 10 pounds each?
Wrong. Try 23 pounds each. I stood there (and let me just say it was hot out today and I was sweating and hungry and trying to keep a handle on C who was taking all the gourds and tiny pumpkins out of baskets and strewing them around the ground), briefly pondering the fact that I was about to pay eleven freakin dollars for each pumpkin.
We would have been fine with one Jack-o-Lantern. But in the heat of the moment, I forked over the money.
I just have to wonder, how much money could I have saved in my lifetime if I was a relaxed, laid-back consumer instead of a harried, stressed, type-A Mom?
PHAT = Parenting, Homeschooling And Technology. That about sums up my life at the moment. 
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Brony | Oct 11, 2006 | Reply
Lovely photos. It looks like the day was a lot of fun.
You could save money sure, but would it be as much fun?
Angela, Mother Crone | Oct 11, 2006 | Reply
Just keep telling yourself you were supporting the community
Now, what I really want to see are photos of Leia and Luke up to their elbows in pumpkin juice while carving!
Can you believe how cold it is going to be this weekend? I hope autumn doesn’t jump directly to winter like spring jumped to summer!
carli | Oct 11, 2006 | Reply
I had a pumpkin in my arms on Saturday. It was about 30 pounds. My mother said, “Do you NEED that? It’s just going to get rotten.” So I put it back.
And it was my BIRTHDAY.
But really, she had a point.
Although this weekend, I’m totally making glitter pumpkins:
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=stv440039&layout=martha
Mom101 | Oct 11, 2006 | Reply
You just got me so excited for the day my daughter is old enough to go apple picking and cider drinking and pumpkin carving. Of course it is fun now that she’s young enough that she gets no say on Halloween costumes. Bwahahahahaha….
jen | Oct 11, 2006 | Reply
lovely pictures of gorgeous kids..liked what you said over at crazymumma’s way so i thought i’d visit - and am glad i did.
ChristineMM | Oct 15, 2006 | Reply
Here is one for you. Last year I was so harried I did not get around to buying a pumpkin until Halloween Day (which was a week day) so we were the only sould at the pumpkin patch (as all the other kids were in school). I got a huge bargain on the pumpkins due to the lateness. I don’t remember what I spent but I got three gigantic pumpkins that others left behind due to the cost being too hihg, I can only assume. They are normally 45 cents each anywhere around here.
I was thinking that to buy two 23 lb. pumpkins at 45 cents per pound is a lot of money for me to spend this year! I may have to put off buying pumpkins until Halloween Day to save more money!!
(But this time it will be intentional not due to my busy-ness.)