It's Almost Halloween!

Hello future readers,

Halloween will soon be here, and you know what that means......pumpkin carving, groovy decorations, far out stuff happening at school, and of course shopping for a new costume. I was on my way to Woolworth's when I bumped into Marc and Jason.

"Hey what are you 2 guys up to?" I asked.
"Oh I need a Halloween costume", Marc said. "Jason said we should check out Woolworth to see what we can find.."

"Outta site! I was just going there myself", I told them. So we walked there together. When we walked in, Stephanie and Melody were already there.

Stephanie was looking in the fish aquarium, and Melody was checking out the Halloween records.

"Hey Julie! Come see the new tropical fish they just got!" So I went over to the pet section while Jason went to talk to Melody and Marc looked around for a costume.

"Hey Melody, you thinking of buying that record?"
"I dunno...it looks pretty scary."

I looked over at Marc who looked a little lost. I knew this was gonna be his first Halloween here in Springfield, and he wanted just the right costume. I walked over to him to see if I could help.

"So what kind of costume are you looking for, Marc?" I asked.
"Do you wanna be something from TV?" Jason asked. "My dad bought me a Planet Of The Apes costume last week."
"Nah, I don't wanna be nothing from TV, except maybe a monster movie." Marc answered.
I looked around a spotted the perfect costume!

"Well since you like Dracula so much", I said looking at his t-shirt, " here's a good costume for you."

"Hey now, that's alright", Marc said smiling. "Thanks Julie."
 I think he was happy to find a good costume. "What costume do you want, Julie?" he asked me. I pulled a box off of the shelf.

"I think I wanna be Supergirl", I said to him. Marc nodded his head and said, "Cool".

"Hey Marc check out this record", Jason said.

"Hey dynamite, it's got a vampire on the cover!"
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna buy it. Wanna come over to my house and listen to it?"
"That would be super!", Marc said.

"Marc, do you need a Trick or Treat pumpkin?" Melody asked him. "They got some neat ones over here."
"Yeah I do. Thanks Melody."
So we all paid for our stuff and were getting ready to leave. Stephanie and Melody hung around and had milkshakes and grilled cheese sandwiches at the lunch counter.

We told them good-bye as we carried our goodies out.

Oh man, do I ever love this time of year! I can't wait until Halloween! We all have so much fun every year! I hope you guys in the future have some super groovy plans for Halloween. Check back in a couple of weeks to see how we're gonna celebrate!

Until then, future readers,
Your friend
Julie Newman

And I Thought My Dog Was Crazy!

Hello future readers,

This past Saturday, Cheryl and I decided to take our dogs, Boomer and Butterscotch for a walk in Springfield Park. When we got there, Danny and his little cousin Michael were already there playing catch.

"Now Michael, when you pitch, you wanna grip the ball like this, see?"
"OK Danny."

"What a groovy day. Hey Julie, doesn't it still feel like summer?"
"It sure does, Cheryl. My mom says it's called Indian Summer."

"Hey look, there's Danny and his little cousin, Michael."
"I didn't know he was visiting", I said.

"Hi guys! Hey Michael, long time no see!", I called.
"JULIE!" Michael yelled and threw his arms around me.

Michael sat down on the grass to play with our dogs.

"Hi Boomer! Hi puppy!"

"So Danny, when did Michael get here?"
"Oh, him and my aunt got here last night. My uncle's on a business trip and my aunt got lonely, so she and Michael came to stay with us for a few days."

"Michael's gonna try out for a new Pee Wee League in San Diego, so we came out here to practice."

"Wow, that's great! I hope you make it, Michael", Cheryl said.
"We're gonna finish our walk, but we'll catch you guys later today, OK?"
"Promise you'll come over later, Julie?", Michael asked me.
"You know it, Michael, and we'll have all kinds of fun, all right?"
"YAY!"
"C'mon Michael, let's practice some more", Danny said.

Danny pitched the ball to Michael, right as we were walking off.

"OOPS! I missed it!", Michael said. The ball rolled in our direction and stopped right in front of Butterscotch.

All of a sudden, Butterscotch picked up the ball and took off running! She jerked the leash right out of Cheryl's hand!

"Butterscotch, STOP!", hollered Cheryl. "Come back here you crazy dog!"
Man, we can't get this mutt to play fetch, but she'll take off running with other people's balls!

So now all 4 of us are chasing Cheryl's dog all over the park!
"Let's surround her", Danny called. "At least one of us will be able to get her!"

Then quick as a flash, Michael takes a dive and lands right on top of Butterscotch!

"You silly doggie! Gimme back our baseball!"

"Outta site Michael! All right! Nice going!", we all yelled.

"Butterscotch, you bad dog! I'm gonna talk to Mom and Dad about getting you into obedience training! You gotta learn to mind me better!"

Wow, poor Cheryl. I know she's been trying to train Butterscotch on her own, but not all dogs are the same. Some dogs are really easy to train, and others are harder.  Even though my dog Boomer drives me crazy sometimes, most of the time, he obeys me. But there are times he does things he shouldn't do, but you know what? I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman