Author: trinalin

Bought Something Day

Yup, I’m a capitalistic pigdog, but I had a lovely day out with my parental units. Shopping the day after Thanksgiving in Miami & Darke counties is never a hectic thing. Well, as long as you don’t get up at o’dark thirty in order to shop at the 5am openings. (5am??? are people NUTS?) We started at the Piqua Mall, which was the busiest you ever see it, but that only means it was as busy as most normal malls are on a regular day. I only bought a $5 Pong/Breakout Atari thingy that hooks onto your TV. The mall shopping, however, was over quickly & we moved onto my favorite Black Friday shopping place – Greenville. Greenville is a small town (well, not as small as my town) with several nice mom&pop shops in the downtown area. I like supporting local vendors. And it’s days like Black Friday that make or break them. I think we helped to make a couple of ’em. 🙂

For those of you familiar with KitchenAid, Greenville is where the famous mixers were first manufactured. Hobart Brothers made commercial mixers in Troy, OH and the KitchenAid brand was made in Greenville (and still is). There’s a nice KitchenAid store there which we shopped at. I got a couple of nice cookie sheets & a spatula. It’s red & it’s silicone. I’m hoping it doesn’t desintegrate like the plastic ones I usually buy. We had lunch at a cafe/store called The Montage. I had a Reuben & their potato & cheese soup. (The cheese is just a small handful of shredded cheddar sprinkled on top – but the soup was very good.) The folks got the senior meals. Heh. I bought lunch & it was less than $20.

We finished the shopping out with getting a few grocery-like essentials at the Greenville Wal-mart, which is in the ‘burbs (heh, Greenville ‘burbs – not bloody likely!) I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about Wal-marts, but the ones in Troy & Greenville are well maintained, clean, and often have what’s advertised. And they had the groceries & supplies that I needed. Best of all, I only bought what was on my list.

Anyhoo, as a result of today’s shopping, I have finished judiang & elsaf. I still have no idea what to get Amy, Rachel, or the parentals. But I’m sure I’ll find something. 🙂

Tomorrow is a day in with Leo. And Sunday, the folks and I will probably go see Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. This has been a good break.

Giving Thanks

I try to give thanks for my privileged life every day, but it’s nice to have times like organized holidays to guarantee that I do it at least once a year. (Grief, I hope I’ve done it more than once a year!) Indeed, holidays are great for pausing for a moment to note the passing of time. If we didn’t have such moments, life would go by in such a blur we wouldn’t get to enjoy it as much. At least, that’s my humble opinion.

I am thankful for my loving family (mom, dad, Amy, Rachel, and Leo, and the extended family too). I am thankful for my kind & generous friends (elsaf, judiang, and so many of you out there I’d probably forget someone if I tried to list you all). I am thankful for my health and my wealth. I am thankful for the roof over my head and all the stuff under it. I am thankful for a job I love and students & coworkers who are a joy to work with. I am thankful for the freedoms that I have. I am thankful to be single & comfortable with that. I am thankful for the ability to travel when I want and where I want. I am thankful for the beautiful town that I live in, and for the beautiful planet that I live on. I am thankful that people are basically good. I am thankful for much more than I have the ability (or patience?) to write. I live a good life with good people and I hope to celebrate many, many more Thanksgivings.

I’ve been working on my Christmas MP3 collection and am, thankfully, finished. So now I get to listen to the music. Hopefully I shan’t have to do this again for some time. I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade today, and having seen Santa Claus, it’s now OK if I listen to Christmas music. (OK, I admit that some years I start before Thanksgiving. I was good this year.)

In fifteen minutes or so, the folks & I are off to my cousin’s for the Short Family Thanksgiving. I shall do my best to avoid stuffing myself like a turkey. And I shall endeavor to be thankful for the bountiful meal that we will be having. And thankful for the family that I’ll be celebrating with.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are celebrating!

Happy 42nd Anniversary, Doctor!

Funny, I knew it was coming soon & all, but it wasn’t until I was reading my flist this morning that I realized today was the 23rd of November, and thus the anniversary of Doctor Who. Woot! Indeed, I was so oblivious this morning, I didn’t even notice it had snowed until about 11:30am. I’m usually pretty zonked in the morning as it is, but this morning I went right into the den & played City of Villains for far too long. It wasn’t until I took a break to get breakfast that I saw the snow in all its glory. Sweet. 🙂

Leo’s currently sulking because I’m not holding him. He’s been in a very holdy mood lately (which is OK with me) but since I’m addicted to this computer thing here, he spends a lot of time sitting alone in his gold chair (awwww!). I have NOT been playing CoV all day, however. Nope, I’ve been ripping my Christmas CDs into MP3s in preparation for the holidays. I am happy that I can finally say “Good bye!” to the bloatware that is MusicMatch (“Best music player” my ass!). It turns out that MediaMonkey is doing a great job of encoding my music and not crashing my PC (which it did on my Win98 machine). With MediaMonkey for encoding & QCD for playing, I think I’m set for a MusicMatch-free system. Yay!

I had intended to be more productive today, but there ya go. Perhaps tomorrow before dinner at the Short’s. (This year, my cousin Mick is hosting Thanksgiving dinner. Should be fun!) Though the folks & I might also go off to see Harry Potter tomorrow before dinner. Eh, it’s my vacation, whether or not I’m productive is really up to me. 🙂

The weekend before the 5-day weekend

We have 2 days of school this next week, and then a nice 5-day weekend. So I spent a stress-free day, which started with going into the school & turning off all of the servers. Why, you ask? Well, the KVM (Keyboard/Video/Mouse) Switch got all screwy the other day and was preventing our backup server from booting. There were only 2 people on computers when we went in (Why??? Why was anyone at the school on Saturday morning????) but we kicked ’em off (nicely) and turned everything off & on again. And it looks like everything is now responding favorably to the KVM switch.

Dad and I then drove off (separately) to Troy and met at the Chinese Buffet for lunch. I let him pay cuz I only had enough for tip (which I gladly gave). The we parted – he onto Goodwill & the UPS Store, me onto Walmart, the bookstore, and the Piqua Mall. Walmart was where I picked up Madagascar & breakfast & got some cash. The bookstore was having it’s 20% off sale, so I bought myself some books, got ideas for Christmas presents for me (so the parents can pick them up tomorrow when they go to the sale) and well, didn’t find anything else for anyone else. Alas!

I headed off to the Piqua Mall and purchased a ticket for the 3:40 showing of Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, but still had an hour to kill. So I sat on a bench and read more from Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal. (Good book, BTW.) I then stood in line to get into the theater and eventually found an empty seat in the aisle. (I’m not used to going to movies that other people see – it was almost claustrophobic!) We had 5 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of previews. And then the movie. YAY! Great movie! IMO, the best yet. When I got home I called the parental units & said we had to go see it next weekend. I’m ready to watch it again. 🙂

While I ate supper (chicken salad on Club crackers) Leo and I watched the extras for the Charlie & the Chocolate Factory deluxe DVD. Great extras. And I think I’m going to like the movie a lot more on the second viewing now that I know where it and the book differ. And let’s face it, Deep Roy (all of the Oompa Loompas) kicks ass. 🙂

Winter has fallen here…

Well, although it’s not as cold or as snowy for us as it is for itslarryagain, Winter has decided to arrive early. Yesterday was rainy & in the 60s (°F), today it was low 30s (again °F) with a very light snow flurrying around. Still, I was dressed for the chilly weather and enjoyed the light snow. (I’m a snow freak, so there ya go).

As I was walking home, I thought about what the chill weather promises. We’ve got Thanksgiving coming soon (yay – 5 day week and nowhere to go! I might even update my web pages!) Then there’s Christmas & New Years & the overdose on family (which I also enjoy). Then (and maybe before then) promises of snow storms & lots of snowfall. Not terribly fond of ice storms (which we get plenty of in Ohio) but I love snow. Pretty to look at, pretty to walk through, hell to shovel. Hot chocolate, warm soups, lotsa blankets on the bed. Kitty cat on my lap while I read for an evening. Yup, it’s nice that winter is on its way.

Visit from Amy

Amy arrived Thursday evening for a weekend with us. Rachel was off at a retreat with her organization (Lutheran Volunteer Services) so she wasn’t able to come too. Thursday evening was also our second night of Parent/Teacher Conferences, so I didn’t get home until after 6:30pm. Amy called shortly after to say she was next door and supper was ready. Yay! Time to spend with Amy!

Unfortunately, we had school on Friday (despite the holiday), so I worked. Mom worked too, though I understand she was kidnapped during her lunch time and forced to eat good Japanese food and shop at Kohl’s by her husband and youngest daughter. Lucky lady! Still, I got home, went off to my final dental appointment regarding my wisdom teeth (I’m free!), and returned to spend more time with the ‘rents & sissy.

We went out to meet up with my coworkers at El Sombrero. Mom & Amy had margaritas & I had amaretto sours. And we all ordered yummy Mexican food and chatted with my current co-workers, many of whom were also Amy’s former teachers (and mine). After supper, dad (designated driver) drove us back so we could play cards at Granny’s.

Deanna (cousin) was home in order to see Amy and so she & Becky (aunt) & Granny, mom, Amy & I all played Shanghai Rum until after 11pm. And I won! (Surprised, judiang?) Amy did well despite not being as addicted to cards as the rest of us (well, not Shanghai Rum at any rate). She was, after all, playing for Rachel too. 🙂

Today we crammed as much quality Amy-time as we could in the day. Dad made us all Egg McMikey Sammiches (family thing, I might explain someday) and we girls headed off to Curves to be good girls. It was the first time I’d been since August. Whoops! Bad Trina! Still, we had fun – it’s always fun with friends.

We returned to home to pick up dad and have him drive us to Tipp City for their Christmas Walk day. Which turned out to be too many people in too cramped a place to look in shops that had many breakables. So after checking out the nice Hotel Gallery Shops, we returned to the car and headed down south to Far Hills Shopping Center.

Lunch was at WG Grinders, a Columbus-based chain that Amy remembered from her Columbus days. It was tasty and dad paid – yay! We then went into Far Hills Shopping Center and shopped. Books & Co. was the first stop and I got a book on Linux (silly girl – buying books doesn’t let me learn it. READING books does.) We looked around at the other shops too, but the main intent was to shop at Trader Joe’s.

We like Trader Joe’s. And Amy doesn’t have one near her city, so we took that as an excuse to return. We shopped for awhile and I spent $68.68 on all sorts of food things. We all got stuff. And then we returned home.

Amy, dad, and I visited Granny again for a little while, and then returned home for supper. Leftovers from El Sombrero, wine, cheese, and California rolls from Trader Joe’s were supper. I opened my Granello and everyone agreed it was sweet. And everyone else switched to the Gamba, a Zinfindel that dad & mom really like (and is bloody expensive – for a family that buys 2 Buck Chuck.) We ate and talked and drank and talked and ate and it was a fun time had by all. I love having Amy around. And it’ll be even better at the holidays when we get Amy *and* Rachel!

So tomorrow Amy flies back at 7am, so we’re all getting up bloody early to take her to the airport. (I missed her arrival, but damned if I’ll miss her departure!) I think our plan after that is to come home, nap, and later go to a concert at the New Madison UU Church. Sounds like a plan! 🙂

JSoR

Guess where I am right now?

Well, if you guessed “sitting in your den,” you’d usually be right. But today, I’m sitting in the lobby of the Hilton in Fort Wayne, IN. I would be sitting in our hotel room, but the 802.11b signal is so poor in the room I can get an IP addy and that’s it. No connection to the WWW. So I have a couple of hours to veg before we go out to dinner and I decided to come down to the lobby. Alas, there is cigarette smoke going on nearby and that’s annoying, but other than that, there’s nice classical music playing and no one’s around except for a few fellow geeks who are here because of some gaming convention.

My folks and I, however, have come to the Big City of Fort Wayne (well, it’s bigger than I expected) in order to attend a Jesus Seminar on the Road (JSoR). This is my first JSoR, though my parents have been attending them since 2000 or so. We’ve got Bernard Brandon Scott and Daryl Schmidt as our scholars for this JSoR, which happen to be the same two scholars that mom and dad saw at their first JSoR. Who’da thunk that 5 years later, dad would be chairing his own Seminar for Westar? He was even introduced before lunch as the leader of the Church Leaders Seminar and got to pass out his business card to a few folks.

We left Ohio yesterday after dad and I returned from our technology meeting at El Sombrero restaurant. We picked mom up, and our luggage (and I fed Leo for 2 days – poor kitty has surely eaten all his food by now), and headed off to Fort Wayne. We dumped our stuff in our room, then headed off find supper. We walked to a Tasty King Gyro near the hotel and I had a gyro with feta, plus fries and lemonade. Very yummy. After supper, it was off to the Unitarian Universalist church which is hosting this JSoR.

Last night was Brandon’s night to shine. He discussed how the Jesus Seminar works and talked some of first century Christianity and who (or what) was likely to be the founder of Christianity. Daryl helped out during the question/answer session. And I enjoyed listening to the critical historical views that both discussed. For several people in the audience, much of what they said was new (and radical). For me, having listened to dad’s sermons of late, it was just neat to see other perspectives. I’m used to radical thinking about the Bible in general and Jesus specifically, so I wasn’t surprised by anything either scholar said.

After the discussion, we returned to our room and I played around on my laptop (unconnected to the ‘Net, but still functional for playing around with the school website). I discovered that with Dreamweaver, I can have nested Templates. Yay! I’ll be able to have the high school and elementary pages based upon the main district site, but with added stuff. That makes me happy. 🙂 (What’s so nice about templates in Dreamweaver is, if you update the template, it updates every page based upon the update!)

This morning, we headed off to McDonald’s for breakfast (Egg McMuffin for me – yum!) and then on to the UU church. This church, BTW, is very modern. It’s based upon a hyperbolic parabaloid and was built in the ’50s. (Actually, it’s two hyperbolic paraboloids – one for the sanctuary, one for the meeting hall.) They have some beautiful leather artwork on the walls depicting several religious cultures, and a huge piece with the UU Chalice. Father’s taken some photos, so maybe I’ll post some pictures later.

The morning workshop was put on by both Daryl and Brandon and covered the scholarly take on Jesus and his words and actions in the first century. Again, I’d heard a lot of this before from dad’s work with Westar, but I liked what they had to say. They take a somewhat scientific approach to the data available to them (which, frankly, isn’t a lot) which includes all of the original texts from the canon and also the noncanon texts from the period. They’ve retranslated everything as slowly as they can, doing their best to keep the context of the time in mind. Scholars would then present papers on the various snippets they translated, and the Seminar would then vote on how likely it was that this was valid. I like the peer review process that they take. And they allow that what they have is changeable should the data change.

For lunch, we found an Arby’s not too far from the church and I had a Market Fresh Sandwich (love that bread) with chicken salad in it (with apples, grapes, and pecans – yum!) I also had their fries, which aren’t all that great, but they were edible and that’s what mattered.

The afternoon session was the most free flowing of their sessions and often relied upon the questions asked. Brandon mentioned his take on the Kingdom of God, which Jesus often alluded to, as being a “Safe Place” when all were gathered together. When one sat at the table with Jesus, one was safe. Lepers, tax collectors, women, etc. Brandon likened it to a church community that he attends, which is mostly gay and lesbian. When they are gathered at the church, they can be themselves. They are safe in the Kingdom of God. When they leave, not so much. 🙁 It’s a take on the concept I’d not thought of before, but I like the idea.

Anyhoo, tonight the folks and I are going to supper with the two scholars, the Westar associate who set this up, and the UU minister and his wife. We found the restaurant before coming back to the hotel (while it was still light) and it’s pretty easy to get to and get back from. Good, that means I can have an amaretto sour or two. (The folks will probably have wine. Oh, and judiang I’m hoping to ask Daryl if he knows of a US equivalent to Granello. The folks say he’s something of a wine expert among the Fellows of the Westar Institute.)

While driving around today, the folks and I were struck by just how beautiful the trees are. This was the PERFECT fall weekend to come to Fort Wayne. For a “big city” they have lots of small town feel to it. And many MANY trees. We’ve really enjoyed the trip so far, and dinner tonight and Brandon preaching tomorrow, should complete the enjoyable weekend. (And then I come home to a hungry cat and laundry which needs doing – heh).

Stuff about me you never wanted to know…

Childhood Meme, gakked from elsaf

1. What was the first car your family had?
The first one I remember was a Pinto (red?). I think. The folks also had the 1965 Ford Mustang that had been mother’s when she was a teenager. They still have it, actually.

2. What was the name of your first pet and why?
Had a hermit crab when I was in 4th grade and I’ve no idea what its name was. Didn’t have pets as a kid cuz dad’s allergic. (I have Leo, my cat, now. Before Leo was Squeaky the hamster.)

3. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher. Didn’t know what subject, just knew I wanted to teach. (Dad was a teacher and after school we’d wait around in his room before he’d drive us home in the Mustang. So I’d write on the chalkboard and try to teach my sister, 4 years my junior, all the stuff I learned that day. Poor kid!)

4. What was the name of your elementary school?
Newton Elementary. Which is in the same building as Newton High School. Which is where I teach now. 🙂

5. Who was your first best friend?
Erik Piper. We were a dangerous combination. So much so that it was in our school records to never be in the same elementary class as the other. We, of course, didn’t know this. So near the end of summer when we’d find out who our next teacher was, we’d go “So who’d you get?” “I got Miss So&So” “Awww, I got Mrs Whatsit!” I told Erik about this school record note about 10 years after we graduated HS. He immediately rushed into the other room (where my dad was) and said “Is that true, Mr Short?!?” They knew we were an explosive combo, btw, through our Sunday school classes. We were both very creative and intelligent (Erik much moreso than me) and very difficult to control. We had fun. 🙂

6. Are you still friends today, and if not, what happened?
Still friends, but out of touch. He’s in the Czech Republic with his wife and (at the time I last communicated with him) one daughter (might be more now).

7. What was your favorite board game?
Stratego. Probably still is. (Remember when we tried to play that online, judiang?)

8. Did you play house or other make believe games?
Yup. House. School. Superheroes (Erik & I had a gazillion each.) Out back where the playground used to be (it’s the carpark now) was a huge rock that Erik and I dubbed “Brainstorm Rock” where we’d concoct our various superhero schemes before walking around the playground N number of times or swinging for the duration of recess.

9. Were you a Dungeons and Dragons geek?
Nope. I liked the cartoon, though. 🙂

10. Did you sleep with stuffed animals as a kid?
Yup. Teeny Tiny Teddy mostly.

11. Do you still sleep with stuffed animals?
Yup. Still Teeny. But at least I don’t take him with me on trips anymore. elsaf & judiang can tell you about the trips I’ve been on with Teeny. He’s a week older than me, however, and the long trips aren’t good for him anymore. So he keeps an eye on Leo while I’m on trips.

12. Who was the first person you looked up to when you were younger?
I looked up to most people when I was small. Heh heh. I had several heroes. Dad. Jean Stapleton. Elizabeth in the Tomorrow People. The Spears, Jim & Helen, from the UMC. etc.

13. Who was your favorite relative?
Gramma Anderson – we bonded during my stint with chicken pox. She was my buddy.

14. Were you short or tall in elementary school?
Tall. Damn junior high when I stopped growing and the boys started growing!

15. Were you teased in school?
Oh god, yes.

16. What was the name of your favorite teacher?
Mrs. Penkal, who was my 3rd grade reading teacher when I was in 2nd grade (Erik was taking 6th grade reading then – I said he was smart!) and later my English teacher during 5th grade. She’s the reason I started writing. She encouraged my love of poetry and got me writing it.

17. What was the name of your least favorite teacher?
I didn’t have one in elementary. I loved all of my teachers (which is good, cuz I work with a number of them now!) There was the asshole who was in charge of the library when I was in junior high. He’s the reason I always worked for dad as a lab aide.

18. What was your best subject in school?
English, science, math.

19. What was your worst subject in school?
Gym.

20. Did you do well in Physical Education?
Nope. Know that kid they always pick last? That was me!

21. Were you clumsy when you were younger?
Not so clumsy as ornery.

22. Who was your favorite band as a kid?
The Beatles and the Monkees.

23. What was your favorite movie as a kid?
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (and still is).

24. Did your parents read to you?
Yes. Bath night was an especially great night for book reading.

25. Did you have a favorite book?
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (and still is).

26. What was your favorite restaurant as a kid?
Burger Chef (and Jeff!). Taco Bell, believe it or not, was considered a special treat. 🙂

27. What TV or movie star did you have a crush on?
Eric Idle, but that didn’t happen until I was 11 or so. It lasted a long time – I still have a crush on him. 🙂

28. Do you now wonder what you were thinking?
Nope – like I said, I still have it. 🙂

29. Who was your first crush in school?
I’m no so sure I had one. Wasn’t much for romance.

30. As a child, what kind of car did you want when you grew up?
Didn’t. Didn’t want a car, didn’t want to drive.

31. Did your parents spank you?
Yup. Dad used the Wooden Spoon. It made a great “pop” sound and probably sounded worse than it hurt.

32. Did your parents fight a lot when you were a kid?
Nope.

33. Did your parents get divorced or stay married?
Stayed married.

34. If they got divorced, how old were you when it happened?
N/A

35. Did you ever run away from home?
Nope, but Amy (my sister) did once.

36. How old were you when/if you first got glasses?
The summer between 5th and 6th grade, I think. Nobody noticed!

37. Did you need braces or a retainer?
Nope. My dentist took my father aside after one dental appointment and said “When your daughter turns 16, buy her a car. She’s just saved you a fortune in dental work.” He didn’t get me the car. If only he’d paid for my wisdom teeth removal… 😉

38. If you’re male, how old were you when you had your first wet dream?
N/A

39. Both sexes when did you start shaving?
LOL – funny story here. I hated shaving my legs, but that wasn’t a problem, I hated wearing shorts. But one summer we were all on vacation and it was HOT. I didn’t have any shorts, so we turned one of my pairs of jeans into shorts. But my sister REFUSED to go out in public with me having my hairy legs. (Fish-belly white legs with dark hairs is VERY obvious.) We didn’t have any shaving cream in the hotel room, so Amy used bath gel or something, had me stand on the toilet seat, and shaved my legs for me.

40. Girls when did you start wearing a bra?
Um, 4th grade… And I remember being proud! Grief, ain’t so proud now – more bent over. 😉

41. What was your first kiss like?
Wasn’t a kid when it happened. (I was 25.)

42. What did you do on your first date?
Also not a childhood thing.

43. How old were you when you first drank?
We used to have wine at Thanksgiving. I hated it then and still not terribly fond of wine now. (Though the Turning Leaf Riesling, 2004 Reserve, we had last night was pretty good.)

44. Where was your first house?
Next door to the one I live in now. I moved in next door to the parental units. 🙂

Phew! All that remembering sure took it out of me!

The Jack-O’-Lantern!

I didn’t get home until 4:30pm, but when I did arrive, there was a clear winner in the Jack-O’-Lantern Design Contest. The very cute “Yawn!” won – yay! Good work, dark_pheonix! In second place was the also cute “Alien” by capriuni. Thanks to both of you for your wonderful contributions. I should be set for the next 13 years’ Halloweens. 🙂

So the next stage was to actually carve the design into my pumpkin. I did my best to replicate dark_pheonix‘s design. And I decided to do a step-by-step photo tutorial on carving a pumpkin. I have included this in my LiveJournal gallery. If you click here, you can see the whole 20 step process. 🙂

But I know what you REALLY want to see. You want to see the final result.

Jack at the front door, greeting the Trick-Or-Treaters.
Jack at the front door, greeting the Trick-Or-Treaters.

Jack in the dark.
Jack in the dark!

I wound up having 73 Trick-Or-Treaters. A little less than last year. And I had more candy than last year – so I guess the juniors and seniors get candy tomorrow. 🙂 The folks were over at Granny’s giving out candy and they ran out. After 146 kids came to trick-or-treat. Wow, what a difference living on a main drag makes!

My costume this year for Dress Up for UNICEF (a yearly tradition at the high school) was very simple. I borrowed dad’s trench coat, wore my khaki jeans, brown shoes, sunglasses, and fedora. I also had a newspaper with 2 eye holes cut out, and brought my itty bitty digital camera with me. Yup, I was a private dick eye. What I need to do next year is get a pinstripe suit and violin case, wear my sister’s black fedora, and go as a Chicago Mobster. 🙂

So, another successful Beggar’s Night. I hope those of you who actually have beggar’s night on the same night as Halloween (wow! what a concept!) I hope that you have as much fun as I have. And remember, if you have half as much fun as me, then I’ve had twice as much fun as you. 🙂

Time to Vote! Pick my pumpkin’s Jack-O’-Lantern design!

I had 12 entries for this competition, and all of them are cute! (And, I think, carvable by me – woot!) Please look at the entries for the competition and vote for your top 3 favorites. (You can vote for less than three if you wish, just don’t vote for more than three.) The winning entry will be the one I attempt to carve tomorrow afternoon. Voting will be done by 4pm EST (which is around when I get home and when I can start on my pumpkin). Thanks to dark_pheonix and capriuni for their fabulous designs!