Halloween Week

So the week after retreat was spent almost entirely on getting things together for Halloween at the shelter and for Halloween and Katie's birthday (All Saints' Day.) Meg and I experimented and created a paper mache pinata by blowing up a balloon, covering it with 2 layers of paper mache (we left a hole in it so we could fill it with all kinds of treats), then put 2 layers where the treats were placed and painted it as a 'Happy Pumpkin' which won a very close vote over a ghost or a witch. We also got all kinds of fun foods and decorations together and started preparing the children's playroom early on Friday when all of the kids were at school. We had lights, jack-o-lanterns, spiderwebs, and Halloween themed garland and streamers. There were Halloween cupcakes, ants on a log (celery, peanut butter and raisins), pretzels, monster teeth (apples with almonds) and apple cider. The party itself was an absolute blast and the children definitely had a good time (as did the moms and staff who attended.) Meg dressed up like a pirate and I as Harry Potter (I proudly walked around town with my scar and cloak after the party.) During the party the children painted pumpkins, got their faces painted by Meg, tatoos from me, and played a few fun games such as pin the face on the jack-o-lantern and we led them through a creepy little story that had them reaching into paper bags to touch "guts, brains, eyes and intestines" and culminated with sticking their hands into a box marked with a ? that one of the moms had her hand in! It was great to see the kids interacting with each other (those living in shelter and those no longer in shelter) and they all seemed to really have a good time.

After that epic afternoon, I went with a few of my housemates to the haunted ship that the Coast Guard had on their ship in town. It was awesome! Particularly because my housemates are what I would call jumpy and sometimes they do things without thinking, like swatting or punching things that jump out at them. On Saturday night we attended the Stardust Ball hosted by the local radio station (we got free admission for agreeing to help with the cleanup), Raven Radio, and it was definitely an experience. My housemates and I dressed up like Ms. Pacman and the ghosts from the arcade game! The ball was really fun, there was a great band (the Gourds who cover Gin and Juice) and there were lots of awesome, ridiculous costumes. Among my favorites from the night were our friend T who dressed up like Mr. T (complete with mohawk), a guy who dressed up as the kid who floated away in the balloon in Colorado, the two radio hosts who dressed up like French royalty and my favorite costume, a man who dressed up like Levi Johnston (Bristol Palin's ex.) Only in Alaska I told myself.

Sunday was Katie's birthday and even though she did not want us to acknowledge or celebrate her birthday we all ignored her. We had a bunch of people over for a potluck to celebrate Katie's 22nd and it was fun and relaxing (which was super necessary for me after the busy week.) In the end I am pretty sure that Katie had a good time and might be over at least some of her negative feelings about birthdays.