Grabbing a quick bite to eat....

"You've got to be kidding me!?" " What was I thinking?"  "Sha-Right!!"   "You can't be serious!?"   These were all thoughts that were racing through my head as Michael and I ran into our local KFC restaurant today.  I thought, "We'll just grab a quick bite to eat."  Yeah.  Right.  NOTHING happens quickly in India.  No joke.  We ordered popcorn chicken and some sort of chicken strips.  Truthfully, they were not bad.  Much MUCH spicier then their American look-alike but not bad & the children have really learned to adapt and go with the "spice" of things so that doesn't bother them either.

What DID become a bother was waiting in line for our food for over 20 minutes.  Oh, I wish I were kidding and this visit to KFC also reminded me why we NEVER eat at fast food chains here.  They are NOT fast, the food is not good, it's nothing like home and lastly, unlike home where it is convenient to grab fast food on the "fly" here in India that couldn't be further from the truth.  There is no drive-thru window where you just yap into the speaker what you would like to eat, you always have to go inside of the eating establishment to order.  Wait in ridiculous long lines and did I mention....they are NOT fast! ;0)  Not the taking of your order.  Not the processing of your payment.  Not the making of your food.  From start to finish.....Slow, SLOW, S L O W!! Yep!  Which is okay.  I know this and I should have known better than to take poor little hungry and tired Michael into KFC with me thinking, "We'll just grab something real quick like".  It was not one of my finer moments that I have had here in India when in desparation I asked the lady that had taken our order, "Where is our food?!"  She replied, "Four minutes."  "WHAT!?  You told me it would take Five minutes and that was 10 minutes ago."  "Yes, Ma'am.  Four minutes."  "I just don't understand!?!  How long does it take to fry chicken for Heaven's sake?!  You throw it in a vat of oil and it is done in a FLASH!"  "Four minutes, Ma'am."  At this point I put my feather's down and realized - It doesn't do any good to get upset.  It won't cook my chicken any faster.  This is just how things work here.  SLOWLY!!!  And then I also thought to myself, "JEN!  Do you realize you are turning into a crazy person bc you want your KFC chicken!?  Who wants KFC that badly!?!?"  Arghhh...Ashamed! ;0)

Luckily, with so much time spent waiting, I was able to become completely educated in the "Indian School of Lickonomics!"  ;0)

 

We had been shopping all morning and I thought it seemed like a good idea at the time.  By the time we finally got some food to eat - Michael was holding back tears.  He was so frustrated.  Couldn't understand what took so long and he was sooooo hungry! 

Not crying yet but pretty darn close!

Curry Crunch, Anyone!?

Leopard on the Loose!

So, I know you've heard the statement, "Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh my!"  Although, at times, living in India can feel like some sort of "Oz-like" dream, we would have to change that chant to, "Scorpions, Cobras and Leopards....Oh my!"  The latest CRAZZZZYYYYY thing that is going on in our world is that there have been multiple potential sightings of a leopard in the area.  When our friend told us, "Guys!  I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think I just saw a leopard!"  truthfully, we did think it sounded a bit crazy UNTIL we saw the newspaper the next day that confirmed there have been other possible sightings in the area of a leopard!  Even the villagers are frightened!  Read the article below for all the scoop on our local leopard who might be lurking around the corner!

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=1&contentid=20121208201212080650438394aa0b65b


I used to just come inside around dusk to avoid the mosquitoes but now we'll add "avoid being attacked by a leopard" to that list as well!  Currently, our mosquito situation is out of control!  We still have the "Mosquito Man" that comes around with a leaf-blower-esque contraption that sprays the mosquito killing fog off the back of his bicycle (you might remember I referenced him in a prior post) but for some reason we are being overtaken by these blood sucking insects!  When I walk out my front door there are literally HUNDREDS (I'm not even exaggerating...wish I was!) of mosquitoes hanging out on the walls and the roof above me!

EW!!!  Yes!  Those are ALL mosquitoes!!

THEY ARE INSANE!  We have malaria in India but I have not come into contact with anyone in Bangalore that has actually had malaria.  There have been a lot of cases recently of dengue fever in Bangalore.  Some people call it "breakbone fever" because of the intense joint and muscle pain that often accompanies dengue.  I had a friend tell me that the mosquitoes that bite during the day are the the dengue mosquitoes and the ones that bite during the night are the malaria mosquitoes.  Not sure if that's true or not but found it interesting nonetheless.

Our weather is starting to get colder but unlike the US we will not have a frost so there is no hope of that "first frost" to do its  lethal job.  My friend, Glynns, took the picture below in her yard of a tennis ball that was covered in mosquitoes!  ACK!
Freaky Beasts!!!

Maybe because the tennis ball is nice and furry it's like a little "Buggy Blanket" for the mosquitoes now that it's getting colder out!? 

 When you see the haze - You know the Mosquito Man is in the area!

Didn't walk fast enough & got caught in the Mosquito Man's "FOG!"  Arghh!  It smells so bad!!

Faster than a speeding bullet...It's the Mosquito Man!  (Too bad that car got in the way of my photo!!)

There he goes in a fog of glory! ;0)

Oh noooOooo!  The Mosquito Man caught us in the middle of our dinner!  TAKE COVER!!

Never Fear!  Matt figured out a way to hide from the Mosquito Man and continue eating! :0)

All I know is that I will continue to follow my current protocol which has always been to stay inside when dusk is approaching.  Now it will serve a twofold purpose, avoid mosquito bites that could potentially make me very ill and elude a concealed cat!  I am glad the Mosquito Man will also continue to actively pursue the mosquitoes and attempt to slay them with his toxic insect exhaust!!  Maybe the forest department can do something about our little kitty cat problem too!?  :0)

My little Quest for Q-tips!!!

When we came to India in August 2011,  we arrived with 18 checked bags, 6 carry-ons, one pocketbook and one briefcase.  We waited for 6 weeks and then a shipment of stuff that was sent by air made it to India.  But it wasn't until our things that were sent by sea arrived that we were truly "Over the Moon" excited!  Although our sea shipment arrived just in time for Halloween, it felt like Christmas!  Never had you seen a group of individuals so excited about opening boxes containing items such as:  Smucker's Strawberry Preserves, Nestle Quik Powder, Cheez-its, Lucky Charms, Goldfish crackers, Hanover's Pretzels....I could go on for hours but I will spare you! :0)  Although we hit up our local Bj's Wholesale Club multiple times before embarking on our journey to India, some of those items only lasted a couple days. Others a bit longer and believe it or not, some of the  "staple" items we brought with us are STILL being used!

One of the things I ran out of a couple days ago was my jumbo, extensive, mammoth, immense, strapping, COLOSSAL collection of Q-tips!!!  In all honesty, I never really thought much about them.  Well.  Until a couple of days ago, anyhow.  We've been dipping into our stash for over a year and I never really thought two-toots about the nice, soft, cottony swabs that I was sticking in my ears.  Shoot!  I even had a rainbow assortment at one point.  Pink.  Green.  Purple.  Blue.  When we finished one box we just opened another!  I'm not even going to bother to do the math (because that never was really my forte) but if someone is so inclined to figure out roughly how many Q-tips our family of six has gone through in the last year and three months - Well, knock yourself out.  I got as far as thinking.  Two tips per person per day.  So that's twelve Q-tips daily.  Math wizards - You take over from here.  All I know is that it is A LOT of Q-tips!!

So, ANYHOOOO!  As I was saying, this week much to my shock and awe - WE RAN OUT OF Q-TIPS!  I literally was in denial.  I guess I was expecting the Q-tips to just keep replenishing themselves forever.  You know, kinda like how the Israelites had unlimited manna from Heaven!?  Yeah, well, my hygenic manna just ran out!  :0/  I was shuffling through bins of various other items that we still have stockpiled and wouldn't you know it - I finally had to give up and realized, we really were OUT
of Q-tips.  Gone.  Done.  Liquidated.  Spent.  I can tell that some of you are sitting there thinking, "So?  What's the big HAIRY deal!?"  Very good question!  It's a big HAIRY deal because I KNEW it was going to be an ordeal finding them and typically when I notice we are running low in one of our store houses - I plan ahead so that when we ACTUALLY run out of something - I have a back-up in place. 

(As a sidenote, we ran out of our favorite bars of soap MONTHS ago and I'm still trying to find a "bar" that we like.  Arghhh.  I've tried everything from English Lavendar bars of soap to bars of soap that claim to be refreshing, deoderizing and cleansing and I have found them to be lacking in every regard.  We miss you Irish Spring!)

So, when I ran out of the Q-tips I knew I was in trouble.  Yep.  I was.  I know it might not seem like that big of a deal but I've been looking for two days now for Q-tips!  I had an exchange in one store (kinda the Indian equivalent of a CVS) with a store worker that went something like this:   "Yes, Ma'am, Can I help you?"  "Yes" I said, "I need Q-tips."  Just like a confused puppy she cocked her head to one side and then said, "Q-tips, Ma'am?!"  To which I replied,  "Yes.  You know.  A stick.  With cotton on the ends of it?"  Hmmmm....I'm still getting the puzzled puppy look.  So I took it to the next level & you'd have thought I was playing charades for a million dollars with the way I began to "act" out Q-tips for this woman!  Hahaha!  I touched my index finger to my thumb.  Same motion with the other hand.   I'm standing there with my index fingers and thumbs together sliding them horizontally in and out trying to show "stick".  "Stick.  You know, stick?"  "Stick, Ma'am?!"  "YES!  STICK! With cotton on the ends.  Q-tips?!"  "Cotton, Ma'am"  "Yes!!  YES!! Cotton on the end of a stick."  (Oh Geesh!  Who am I kidding!?  I was doing a horrible job explaining a Q-tip!)  Ah hah!  I know!  We need more gestures.  So I proceeded to stick my finger in my ear and twist it around and around like I was cleaning my ear.  "Q-tip!?"  Hmmm....She's still not following me.  "Ooh!  Cotton Swab?!  You know COTTON SWAB?!"  Maybe I just needed a "same as - only sounds different" type signal?!  I thought saying the word, "cotton swab" was going to be the magic key that unlocked the door.  Maybe the word "Q-tip" was what had her so confused.  Nope.  She looked at me with a dumb-founded look that suggested:   "Ma'am might be mentally ill" and then she did it.  She politely gave me the Indian head bobble.  Smiled and said, "Uh.  No, Ma'am".  I know it.  I know she thought I was crazy.  She didn't say it but I saw it in her eyes & when she bobbled at me I knew I had failed.  Argghhhhh!

I turned for the door and let myself out of the shop.  Drat.  No Q-tips.  So, literally when Matt said, "What's on the 'List' for today" - I simply said, "Q-tips."  Yep, that's pretty much all I was hoping to accomplish today.  TWO additional shops later, filled with more charades & pantomimes, puzzlement & perplexity, I FINALLY found Q-tips!  "HALLELUJAH!  HALLELUJAH!  HALLELUJAH!  HALLELUJAH!  HALLELUJAH!"    Not terribly surprising though, I found them on my own.  Clearly, I have ZERO skills in the art of charades.  Everyone I asked gave me the same "look" and the same answer, "No, Ma'am.  Sorry!"  Well, By George!  India DOES have Q-tips!  According to the package they are called "Cotton Bulbs".  That could have been my difficulty all along, aye?!?!  I was just calling them the by the wrong name!  I'm learnin'.  I'm learnin'!  It's all good!  And I just sent Matt a text message with the good news of my accomplishment for the day and his reply!?  "SSSWWWWEEEEETTT!" Yep.  He's pretty excited too!  It's the little things afterall, isn't it?! 

The Roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!!!

This morning while I was getting showered, dressed and ready for the day there was this God awful burning plastic smell.  Well!  Unfortunately, this is not an abnormal smell to come wafting through your nostrils when you are in India.  Nearly everything and I do mean EVERYTHING gets burned in the streets of India.  Unfortunately, you smell a lot of bad burning smells in India :0/  So, although, I was thinking, "Oh, Gosh!  That smells horrid."  That was about as far as my little brain went.  No more.  No less.

That was until I walked down the stairs and the smell just kept getting worse and worse and worse (you get the idea!)  So, then like a hound dog hot on the trail - I had my sniffer to the ground and was going to find the source of this smelly stench.  I didn't have to go far!  This week I put up my Christmas decorations and to say that my Christmas lights have been a little bit of a "pain in the rear" is the understatement of the year!  (I love it when I rhyme!)  Anyhoo!  Literally, for three consecutive nights when Matt has come home the tree has been black as sin.  Not a single twinkle light aglow and he removes his shoes and sits down next to the tree with tools in tow and changes microscopic fuses and somehow, everytime he magically gets the lights glowing again!!  (I love being married to Mr. Fixit!)

Since blown fuses have become a daily occurrence we decided that something needed to change.  SO!  Last night, Mr. Fixit and I separated the strings of lights so that half the tree would be plugged into one source and the other half into another.  Well, wouldn't you know it!  It worked like a charm!  No blown fuses!  We enjoyed having the tree lit up all evening and again at breakfast today before the kids left for school and then.....dun dun dun.....

As I said, when I was up getting myself ready for the day and started to think, "Gahhhh!  Man that smells so bad!"....that is when I went downstairs and discovered that my tree was once again BLACK!  No sparkly lights greeted me as I walked into the living room just a dark, drab and sad looking fir tree.  AND!  That's when my eyes were drawn to the floor where there was a strange looking orange stain on the floor.  Ah ha!!!!  It wasn't just a bizarre blemish on the floor it was the source of the STANK!!!  Just like the Wicked Witch of the West, my electricity converter was
M E L T I N G!!  It was burning!  It was STINKING!!!  Oh for Heaven's Sake!  THIS is why my whole house was smelling like a big 'ole pile of putrid plastic!  Argghhhhh!

Oy Stinkin' Vey!  What a nightmare!  I'm back to square one.  I don't think I will have Mr. Fixit do anymore work on these idiotic strings of lights.  I suspect what I have known for quite sometime now is that we are in fact, distant relatives to Clark W. Griswold and that's why we have so many complications with "lighting things up" on Christmas!

So, I am on a new quest or maybe it's more like a raging WAR of me versus these Christmas lights.  Never fear!  I shall be victorious.  I WILL light that tree and it WILL stay lit or....or...or....Well, I don't know.  It just WILL, okay!!!  Bah Hum Bug!

ACK!  Proof of my stinky - flamin' Floor!

 The kids love making up their own lyrics to their favorite songs.  Of course, right now we are listening to a lot of Christmas songs so one of their current favorite creation is to the tune of "Last Christmas I gave you my Heart - But the very next day you gave it away...."  They have turned it into "Last Christmas I ripped a juicy fart - But the very next day the smell went away."  NICE, right?!  They are soooOoooO their Father's children! ;0)  I, on the otherhand am singing my own version of, "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!"  I will now be singing, "The floor, the floor, floor is on fire!"

Argh!  Stay tuned.  This battle isn't over!  ;0)  I gotta get this tree lit!

 

 



When you fall at school....

Wee-ooo-Wee-ooo-Wee-ooo!!!  (In case you are wondering that is the sound an ambulance makes in written form!)  SO!  This week I got a call from the school infirmary that went something like this, "Hi.  Miss Jeany-fur?  This is Miss Smita calling from the infirmary at the Indus International School.  I have Rachel here with me."......Okay everybody pause here for a second because I don't know if you are like me but whenever the school calls....infirmary...class room teacher... teacher's assistant... I ALWAYS assume the worst and before I even pick up the phone I am having a mini-panic-attack!  So, as you can imagine, my heart had already begun its uneven & accelerated "FREAKING OUT" heartbeat and my ears were throbbing and turning fire engine red, my throat became parched as I braced myself for the news of what had happened to Rachel....

Unfortunately, because my brain was racing around in a million different directions all at the same time I was only partially listening to the sweet sounding voice on the other end of the phone.  So I am not entirely sure if she said that "Rachel fell down the stairs."  "Rachel jumped down the stairs."  "Rachel was playing and fell down the stairs."  All I remember is her saying SOMETHING about falling.  Stairs.  Crying.  Ice.  Pain Spray.  And then I tuned back in when she finished relaying the news by telling me that "Rachel is very upset.  Too much of paining, Ma'am.  Can you please come get Rachel?" 

They put her on the phone & she was crying.  Still couldn't figure out what happened through her crying voice but understood the "It really hurts Mom!"  "Please can you come get me!?"  So!  Of course I said, "YES!" however, in India that is easier said than done.  I was over an hour from the school and had no idea how long it would take Claudius to get me there but I told her to "Be brave!  I will be there as quickly as I can!"

About two hours later I showed up at the school and had my first visit to the infirmary.  Standard school infirmary.  Exactly what you'd expect.  Several cots in a room.  Two occupied with what appeared to be two high school girls that were more "sick of school" than "actually ill".  They looked like they were having a lovely chat when I walked in to gather up Rachel.  She was lying on one of the said cots with her ankle wrapped in a pink bandage.  She was so happy to see me!  She nearly lept off the cot.  Good thing she didn't ....  I mean with that "hurt" ankle and all.  Okay.  Pardon me here.  Another pause in the story.  SO!  If any of you have daughters that tend to fall into the "A Bit Dramatic" category you will appreciate this whole scene.  I am SURE that Rachel DID hurt herself and there is no doubt in my mind that she really was in PAIN.  However, she also could score an Oscar for her ongoing daily theatrics.  She's really quite amazing AND you get the same quality of acting for something as minimal as a splinter as you would for a lost eyeball!

Okay.  Back to where we left off.  So!  I could tell immediately from Rachel's facial expression that ALL was going to be fine but I did just drive nearly TWO hours to reach her so I decided to go along with the "she NEEDS to go home" thing.  She hobbled on one foot to reach her shoes that were resting under another cot in the front room and Ms. Smita told her, "Slow down, Rachel!  I don't want you to fall again."  (Seriously!  She was so sweet and sympathetic....If I was Rachel, I would go to the infirmary just to spend time with the kind infirmary staff!)

Anyhow, after she managed putting on her shoe.  Yes, just ONE shoe b/c OF COURSE the other foot was all wrapped up & no way was a shoe going to fit over that sucker!  I offered her my arm to help keep her steady and Ms. Smita helped her down the ramp and out the front door.  Rachel and I started off down the sidewalk together.  "Slow and Steady" I told her & that's when Miss Smita yelled out, "No!  Wait!"  I will call the ambulance for you!  I quickly jerked my head to the left & to the right to see who was in need of emergency care!?!?!  Hmmm.  Funny.  I didn't see anyone.  Nobody was around.  Just me and Rachel!?  Miss Smita ran to catch up with us and said, "Wait here.  I will send the ambulance to drive you to your car!"  :0)  Oh my GOOOOOODNESS!  SERIOUSLY!?!?!  You gotta know that Little Miss Rachel was over the moon about such kindness & genuine concern over her injury.  We waited on the sidewalk & in a millisecond - A gentlemen showed up.  Keys jangling & he ushered us to the ambulance that was parked at the end of the sidewalk.  Well, don't you know,  This sort of thing doesn't happen everyday so you know me - I pulled out my camera & caught the scene in action!

She hopped from the ambulance into the car & Claudius had a look of horror on his face!  I gave him the ole "wink wink face" and said, "I think she's gonna make it Claudius" & that put him at ease.  By the time we reached home she was asking if she could go swimming but mentioned she wouldn't be able to peddle her bike with her bad ankle.  ;0)  Oh Rachy, Rachy, Rachy!!!  What would I do without you!

What an adventure!  What a day!

**DISCLAIMER**
So as not to have you think I didn't appreciate the school & their cautious ways, I actually DID and would much rather have them operate on a "better safe than sorry" policy then to be careless when indeed there could have been something seriously wrong, right?!  It's a good school with good people & I'm very happy my children are under such watchful care.
**RACHEL UPDATE**
Ankle is fine.  Possible sprain but she's back in the saddle (or should I say back to bike riding!) All is well!

Wee-ooo-Wee-ooo! ;0)

Can you see the "injured" one in the back?!

Smiling Through The Pain :0)

World Tour Birthday Party

Today Erica was invited to a birthday party!  Wait until you see all the places she and her friends got to go ;0) 

Starting out at the Taj Mahal!

Eiffel Tower

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Walk Like An Egyptian

The Great Wall

Don't let their cuteness confuse you - These Girlie Gladiators are FEROCIOUS!!!

Showing my ignorance here - I'm not sure where this is supposed to be & neither were the girls so they all decided to do a "plug your nose" pose as they pretend to go swimming in the water of !?!?!?......I'm not sure! 

Ended their world tour back at the Taj!

Okay Okay.  So they didn't really travel the world that would have been QUITE the extravagant birthday party, no?!  Hahaha!  No, while they were waiting outside the mall by our house for the other children to arrive for the party they had all of these displays set up & they had a fun time pretending to visit all of these sights!  The REAL party consisted of a day at the spa, food & swimming.  That's a little more realistic for a bunch of 9 & 10 year old girls, right?

So, after I dropped Erica off I took an auto-rickshaw back home.  That always proves to be interesting.  Today was no different there was some sort of  gathering going on.  I think it was political but I'm not entirely sure?!

Forget the Pistol Packin' Mama - I'm the Rickshaw Ridin' Mama!

Oh yeah.  It's a cluster.

Holy Traffic, Batman!

Made it home with no incident other than getting charged too much for my rickshaw ride.  Rachel also is attending a birthday party today.  She's going on a tour of a chocolate factory (and yes, she said she'll bring home samples!  WOOT!)

David has been relaxing at home today.  Playing with friends as everyone is coming back from their Diwali travels.  He's also gotten a new game on his itouch....Star Wars Angry Birds and he's totally lovin' it.  Daddy & Mikey also got to have some fun today, they linked up with our friends, Martin & Nico and went on a motorcycle ride together.

Daddy's new motorcycle. 

(Yep.  Sold the other one to a friend and now he's riding this one.  I sense a motorcycle gang in our future!? Hahaha!)

Martin & Nico

And they're OFF!!

Enjoy the ride!

Happy Saturday Everybody!

Spooktacular Halloween 2012

Although Halloween isn't really celebrated in India there were lots of opportunities for us all to celebrate at parties and within our community!

Let the Kid Party Begin!

My friend, Schonell, that hosted the party made this cake!!

Does she have MAD SKILLS or what?!

Vampire Mikey & Princess Rayne

(the hostess with the mostess!)

Werewolf David! 

 Cleoptra & Her Gangstah Friend, Jack

Spooky Skeleton Sam & Pirate Jacob

Henrick the Karate Master, Charlie the Jester & Mikey the Pizza Eating Vampire!

The Cutest Witches on the Block - Erica & Rose!

Magic Show

Wow!  Shock n Awe!

 Face Painting

Candy Apples!

The kids all had a GREAT time at Schonell's party!

We couldn't let the kids have ALL the fun so us "Big Kids" got into the spirit of it all and put on our "fancy dresses" and got all decked out for a night of costumes and LOTS of laughs!

Matt had been brainstorming his costume for WEEKS!  He decided to go as one of the security guards from our community.  For 500 rupees ($10) he borrowed one of the guards uniforms for the night and he made his own "Bomb Checker".  Whenever you pull into any public places in India they always stick a mirror under your car to make sure there isn't a bomb.

 Matt the Impersonator with the "Real Deal" ;0)

Look at me!  I'm a Rainbow Trout!  Complete with blinking hair and tutu!  YEP!  Was soooOOooO much fun!

Excuse me, Alice.  Bomb Check.  Yep.  You're clear!

Marion & Martin

Our Hostess and um....Hostess?!

The Queen of Hearts & Alice in Wonderland

Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf!

 Meghan as Medusa!

Jen, Kathrine, Schonell & Jen

Gellerman's KILLED it!  WOW!

Crazy Kids!

Kevin, Daleen & Sharon

Bouke looking Rico Suave!!!

Uh.  Security you lost something!!

Everybody LOVED that mustache!  Hahaha!

Unibrow?!

Aw!  Bouke & Jet!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The kids got to wear costumes to school for 10 rupees a piece.  The money that was collected went to the Indus Community School.  They decided to make up costumes and not wear their "real" costumes.  They wanted to save those for Halloween Night!



Our Spooky Line-up!

I don't know if you can read her shirt

but it says, "The Monster Cupcake!"

Guess who wanted to borrow Mommy's tutu (Can ya blame her!?)  She got pretty colors in her hair too!

That's some Boston Celtic Irish Pride, right there!

When I asked David what he was he said, "I'm a fweaky alien guy from Stah Wahs."  :0)



Oy!  There was a cyclone in Chennai so we had a WET Halloween night but the kids didn't seem to mind and came home with a BIG haul of candy and The Fab Four is already plotting what they all want to dress up as NEXT year!  Hahaha!

Happy Halloween 2012