Mastery Level = Easy

Last night I had two choices: 1. come home from work after a long day of school and after-school, go to the gym, and go to bed, or, 2. come home from that same long day, pick out a perfect pumpkin, eat homemade chili for dinner, snack on teddy grahams dipped in the extra glob of cream cheese frosting left over from my red velvet cupcakes, carve a pumpkin with my fancy little carving tools and my partner in crime by my side, and watch the Celtics opening game. It took me about two seconds to decide on option two. Well, maybe one second actually.

Brian and I met up at the grocery store to pick out our pumpkins. Apparently, everyone in the neighborhood did this exact same thing before us, because only ginormous pumpkins were left. We quickly changed our plan from carving two pumpkins to carving one big one. We work better as a team anyway. We headed home, heated up some dinner, and set up shop on the living room floor.

After gutting our 24 pound pumpkin, Brian soaked the seeds in salt water as I got the pattern placed and taped. We confidently chose the happy, googly eyed face pattern that was boldly marked easy. I will admit, the carving was not extremely difficult, but I would not want to attempt the intricate spider webs and wolves marked challenging.

We had a great time carving together and were very pleased with our finished product. He is now hanging out in my living room grinning back at my as I try to fight away this flu that I can feel coming on.

And, in addition to our happy little pumpkin, we also have some delicious roasted pumpkin seeds. Thanks Rach for the recipe! The evening ended with a Celtics win and some Drake's cakes from the deli downstairs.

Go Celtics! Happy fall and happy pumpkin carving!