this time of year.

Jon always has the upper hand when it comes to scaring or startling me, and it happens on a fairly regular basis.  Sometimes it happens when he doesn't even try, it's quite the super power of his.

BUT, this is the time of year that I get to strategically play The Nightmare Before Christmas so that it's on when he comes home from work.  This movie gives him an intense case of the jeebies - my understanding of which only extends to using this fact against him to majorly freak him out.  MWAHAHAHA, HAPPY HALLOWEEN, DEAREST.

This is also the time of year that I tend to ramp up in the baking and cooking department, and it's a good old time.  It would be better if we hibernated like bears so that the delicious pounds we add via baked goods season lend to something meaningful, but nope.

In recent years I've developed a personal rule where I don't attempt recipes from the internet.  I try to stay away from those food blogs of random people who have a knack for pretty photographs and blog designs.  This is actually pretty tough, because some of those end products look too amazing to not try, but the majority of the recipes I've attempted have always involved some undisclosed hiccup or just turned out terribly.

Lest you think the pool of recipes to try is greatly diminished if I follow this rule... HA.  The backlog of recipes I've collected from Food Network Magazines and my idol Ina Garten is insanely huge and will probably only get bigger, not smaller.  My goal is to try at least scratch the surface of this collection over the next few months, which is highly ambitious given how busy we're expecting the rest of the year to be, but I'm hopeful.

Plus if I'm successful, hopefully Jon's happy stomach convinces him not to devise some payback scheme for the Jack Skellington-induced jeebies.  :)