and all of my fellow obsessed Supernatural fans out there (Cough cough! Anne. Cough, cough!) you can test your knowledge about season one of this great show by taking this fun quiz. You’ll be happy to know that the questions are very Dean-centric, Anne. How well do you know your man?

Happy Halloween everyone!

Since Anne is being modest and not announcing it herself. Please rush to your bookstores and pick up a copy of Anne’s latest, An Earl of Her Dreams. I, for one, am super excited about this release as I’ve always loved CLUE. Congrats, Anne!

The secret costumes of the Jaunty Quills! Jaunty dug these up and then blackmailed me -the little rat quill! But don’t worry, I got him back…

While I didn’t dress up this year, like Shane did, I wanted to share some past Halloween costumes. I love Halloween and dressing up, but there aren’t really any parties here for that sort of thing. But my house is decked out.

So here I am with my good friend – she’s dressed as a Christmas Tree and it was even equipped with actual lights. Very funny. And if you can’t quite figure out what I am, here’s another clue. My costume even had the flap in the back where I kept extra eyes and lips and whatnot. HA!

Then one year I paid homage to one of the cult favorites. Again, my friend Amy was incredibly creative and went to the party as Miss Piggy – how cute is that? Here’s a close up shot of me. And for those of you unfamiliar with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, here’s Magenta.

So those are a couple of my previous costumes. Any other Quills have any pictures they’re hiding?

Ultimate Sportsfan and I went to a Halloween party on Saturday night, dressed as 80s Goth people. As you can see, I wore an original Depeche Mode concert T-shirt from 1988, tights in black and white, a jean skirt, and lots of makeup. I actually used to dress like this in high school, so it felt like déjà vu getting dressed. USF wore an AC/DC shirt we picked up at Target, black jeans, multi-colored hair, black eyeliner, and black nailpolish.

I think we pulled the whole look off pretty well.

The only thing at the party was that I felt like I’d gone as a nun. Is it just me or is Halloween suddenly all about sex? I mean, some of the costumes were just ridiculously revealing. I felt like I’d taken my husband to a peep show.

Anyone else feel like this is kind of a weird trend or are you all for sexy Halloween costumes?

Are you/did you dress up? What is/was your costume?

It’s Devil’s Night tonight, though that might be more of a Michigan thing. Have you non-Michiganders heard of it? In the spirit of hooligans everywhere (we’ll just go for the spirit of the good natured, mischievous ones, not the ones with ill-intent that thrive on Devil’s Night) go out and TP a shrub in your front yard! Just for kicks.

Margo, I’m looking at you!

***Cross-posted at Romantically Inclined where those ladies made a mistake in allowing me to run rampant for the week. Heh.***

Given Robyn’s lament about pens earlier this week, and Shana’s post below, this seemed appropriate.

One of my favorite TV shows is The Dog Whisperer starring Cesar Millan (“I rehabilitate dogs. I train people.”). Some people think this is a little strange because I don’t have a dog, and I’ve never had a dog. In fact, I have two cats.

But the other day as I was watching an episode dealing with Cesar’s toughest cases, I realized that maybe the reason I like Cesar and his show so much is because his advice doesn’t just work for dogs. It works for people. It works for me!

The basic tenets of Cesar’s philosophy are Exercise. Discipline. Affection. In that order. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how well that philosophy works for me, too.

I think everyone has days when they just don’t get anything done. You plan to do X, Y, and Z, but you end up doing A and B. When I have a day like that I can almost always trace it back to not following Cesar Millan’s tenets.

See, I get up every morning and run about two miles, then I sit down to work. When I finish work, I get to read or watch TV or spend time with my husband.

Exercise. Discipline (work). Affection (reward).

If I try to reward myself first, I find I never get around to the exercise or discipline. If I try to skip the exercise, I feel guilty and when I’m working I can’t really get into it. So, I actually think Cesar’s got something here.

What works for you? Do you have a daily routine? Or maybe you’re motivated by something else, and the whole day is wrong without it. On Wednesday, Robyn and Crystal lamented not having their favorite red pens. Haven said she likes to have her raspberry tea. Jenna wants her Diet Vanilla Pepsi.

What throws your day off or makes it go right?

After spending the past several days watching a long list of scary movies along with the entire first season of Supernatural on DVD, it has most definitely succeeded in putting me in a spooky sort of mood. (As a matter of fact, I’ve been leaving my bedroom light on much later than usual lately! Brrrrrr!) Those cute Winchester brothers have also gotten me thinking about my own life-long fascination with the supernatural. (There is a reason that Halloween is my favorite holiday, after all.) I have always had an interest in the subject. One of my fellow writer friends used to belong to the Louisville Ghost Hunters Society, and we have discussed her experiences with the group more than once. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that I believe whole-heartedly that there are restless spirits out there, but I do keep an open mind and am willing to say that I think it’s possible. I’ve found that most people say that they’ve had at least one brush with something they can’t explain at some point in their lives.

So, in celebration of Halloween, I decided to try going on a bit of a ghost hunting expedition of my own, checking out several well-known and supposedly haunted places in my area. Armed with my trusty flashlight and with my intrepid porcupine sidekick at my side, I ventured forth, and I was surprised by what I found. And creeped out. Majorly.

The first stop on our spooky little tour is the Waverly Hills Sanitorium in Louisville, Kentucky. Built in the early 1900′s, it was once a tuberculosis hospital before it became a geriatric hospital and then eventually closed down. I don’t know whether I believe it is haunted or not, but all you have to do is take a look at the picture to get an idea of why this one is at the top of my creepy list! Named the most haunted place in America, it has been profiled on several television shows, including the Linda Blair-hosted show The Scariest Places on Earth and Sci-Fi Channel’s Ghost Hunters. An independently made horror movie was also filmed there not all that long ago, and there were all sorts of stories leaked from the cast and crew about the strange happenings that occurred while they were filming. I can tell you one thing: I won’t be venturing into those dark hallways again anytime soon! To learn more about the history of the sanitorium as well as some of the paranormal experiences people claim to have had there, you can check out http://www.underworldtales.com/waverly.htm

Next on the list is historic Bardstown, Kentucky, site of my Old Kentucky Home and host to so many alleged hauntings that I couldn’t even begin to list them all. Most notable among them are Federal Hill Cemetary with its famous moving headstone and the Jailer’s Inn, which has been featured on the Travel Channel as one of the most haunted places in America. I could give you a long list, but instead, try checking out http://tinyurl.com/yg6hxo for more info. Or go to http://www.ghosthunter.com/ghosttrek2.htm to see some paranormal pics that were taken during a recent ghost trek there. (Scroll to the bottom of the page.) Evidence of spirits or a faulty camera? Judge for yourself…

We end our tour in quaint, downtown New Albany, Indiana at the historic Culbertson Mansion. This is the only stop on our tour that I have personally visited more than once, and while I can’t say that I have ever seen any evidence of the paranormal, I sure won’t be volunteering to stay there overnight! As lovely as the house is, I have to admit that I used to get some pretty strange vibes whenever I went there on school trips in elementary school. And that was before word got out that it was haunted by the ghost of the owner’s first wife. You can read a bit more about the haunting at http://tinyurl.com/yxjmf7

Well, that brings us to the end of the road–er, I mean, the end of our tour. Your turn now. Any brushes with the supernatural you’d like to share? Any supposedly haunted places in your area? I’m in the mood for a good ghost story. (And if Jaunty P doesn’t come clean with me as to the indentity of our mystery Quill pretty darn soon, he might find himself bound and gagged and spending the night alone in one of these places. Are you listening, Jaunty…?)

This is not a test. This is the new Jaunty. Robyn noticed my secret book spine and posted about it down below today, so I had to take over the blog and post this message. The rest of the group still doesn’t know who I am, but Jaunty the Porcupine and I have come to a little ‘arrangement’. Let’s just say he’s set on pine nuts for life in exchange for two things:

One: the password so I can post this message to you.
Two: this Jaunty IM conversation he intercepted last night between several of my Jaunty ‘friends’. I think you’ll find it very interesting how they talk to each other when you aren’t around…

Anne says:
What’s up with this new Jaunty?
Shane says:
Yeah! Is this new Quill thing really going to happen?
Robyn says:
I think Jaunty’s been hitting the gin. There is no new Quill.
Shane says:
I don’t know. I feel like we’re being watched
Margo says:
I swear I hear the buzzing of cameras moving around me
Robyn says:
Hmm, you may be right. So do you think Jaunty P. Quills is up to his porcupine tricks again?
Anne says:
I think he’s making deals on the side. He was muttering about pinenuts.
Margo says:
And he mentioned something about not having to go back to the forest after all.
Shane says:
But I sent him back to the forest last week!
Robyn says:
He must have busted out.
Anne says:
You mean he’s a … forest fugitive?
Shane says:
Damn porcupines. You can’t trust them.
Robyn says:
So the whole new Jaunty thing may be true! I noticed the sidebar changed. What do you think the mystery book will be?
Shane says:
Well, we all know how much Jaunty likes romance
Anne says:
Do black spines with question marks sell?
Margo says:
Yes, how would they distinguish them on the shelves?
Shane says:
You know Jaunty. It’s probably about a porcupine
Anne says:
I think it’s about punctuation in love. A question mark meets an exclamation point. It’s like Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending.
Margo says:
It wouldn’t be so bad if it was a red spine with a question mark. Much more romancey that way
Robyn says:
Purple is always nice. and I like exclamation marks.
Shane says:
Hey! I want purple
Margo says:
Fight! Fight!!!!
Anne says:
Guys this isn’t the time to turn on each other! Hey, Shane no hair pulling!!
Margo says:
Come on, Shane and Robyn, on the mat. 5 minutes in the ring. Go!
Anne:
No! No! Stop that! Margo, put away the medieval torture devices. Shane, no eye poking. Robyn, put the chair down….

And then the IM conversation disintegrates into a series of grunts and swearing and Margo Maguire threatening people with medieval poisons and torture devices. I knew these ladies couldn’t like each other as much as they pretend. It’s just like the set of Desperate Housewives. See, they need me…. Just wait until next week.