It occurs to me I haven't really blogged in awhile, so it's time for another update.  The past few days have been lovely and cool (I actually got to wear sweaters, yay!) and fall-like.  At last!  Happy Autumn, everyone.

Last Monday (the 22nd, I think) was the autumnal equinox, and Ben and I decided to declare it a holiday.  We took the day off from work, did a little smidge of fall cleaning, and decorated our porch with our usual array of pumpkins, gourds, foddershocks and hay bales.  Ben made a special seasonal dinner that was amazingly tasty (especially since he just made it up!) - Beef Fajitas with Habanero Pumpkin Picante.

The link above leads to a recipe blog I'm putting together for a project I'm working on via the BPAL forum.  It's called Switch Witch, and it's kind of like Secret Santa.  Only for Halloween (this time around; they do it 3 or 4 times a year).  The idea is, everyone who participates fills out a questionnaire about his/her interests, hobbies, tastes, etc.  The people who organize it mix them up and distribute them among participants.  So it's not like a straight swap, where person A gets person B's questionnaire, and person B gets A's questionnaire.  It's randomly mixed.  So you get a questionnaire, and send a gift (or several) to your "witchee."  And your witch (whoever that may be) sends you a gift or gifts.  There's a deadline by which everyone has to at least receive one thing.  And that's pretty much it.  Some people reveal their identities immediately; others wait until the end, or remain anonymous period. 

This has been a lot of fun.  I'm having a great time getting gift packs together for my witchee.  I've sent her one package, and had some chocolates shipped directly to her from The Chocolate Fetish.  The recipe blog is a little DIY project, because she said she'd like some new recipes.  I haven't gotten a package yet from my witch, so I think he/she may be waiting the reveal  him/herself until the end.  I have been contacted, however, and my witch lives in "a magical land of spicy foods," so I'm eagerly anticipating potential spicy treats.

I also have a new hobby.  I've been making ribbon necklaces.  I started doing this because I like putting my scent lockets on ribbons, and wanted one with an actual clasp so I didn't have to rely on tying them.  In the process of buying clasp-attaching materials, I found a bunch of Halloween themed ribbons, so I got those too.  Once I made ribbons for myself, I realized I had a ton left over, and decided to put them up on the BPAL forums for sale or swap (I am not the only one with the locket/ribbon dilemma). And it's sort of evolved from there.  I just set up an Etsy shop, and I have a couple of necklaces I made up there now.  I'm going to start posting plain ribbons, to which you can add your own locket or pendant (or not, whatever) this weekend.  I just need to take some photos of them.

So that's what I've been up to lately.  And work.  Crazy busy work, as usual.

Originally posted on cam.vox.com