Trick or Treat!

I made these skeleton cupcakes for our Halloween lunch at work tomorrow:


They're kind of cute, huh?


Ok, so no one's likely to mistake them for work done by a professional decorator, but I still think they're pretty fun.

Actually, if you haven't already checked out the Cake Wrecks blog (there's a link on the sidebar), take a look. Maybe I could be a professional decorator.

Steelers 27, Vikings 17

I was anticipating a big gunslinging quarterback showdown -Roethlisberger versus Farve - and that wasn't how the game played out at all. It turned into a defensive battle, and when it comes down to the defense, you gotta like the Steelers' chances. LaMarr Woodley returned a Farve fumble 77 yards for a TD, and Keyaron Fox ran back an interception 82 yards for a TD in the final minutes to secure the win. It was definitely the defense that came up big today, and handed the Vikings their first lost of the season. Hooray!

The Steelers have a bye next week, and then travel to Denver for Monday Night Football the following week. I have been pulling for Kyle Orton and the Broncos after all the Jay Cutler drama in the off season, but obviously that will be put on hold for a while!

Troy-O-Lanterns? Ben-O-Lanterns?

Look at my fun jack-o-lanterns:

Aren't they great?! I didn't freehand these or anything, so don't be too impressed. I used stencils to carve them. It was still kind of tricky, but I'm really pleased with how they turned out. And since my Mom wisely suggested using craft pumpkins instead of real ones, I'll be able to use them again in the future. My friend Train Brain, the Redskins fan, has threatened to come by and smash them. I don't think he would, but nevertheless, I think I'll put them in the windows instead of outside on the porch.

Any Steelers fans who admire them during trick-or-treating on Halloween will be getting DOUBLE treats.

Steelers 27, Browns 14

The Steelers were supposed to win this game comfortably, and they did. Big Ben had a tremendous game, throwing for over 400 yards. I guess the Steelers are going to be a passing team now? Ok by me. The third quarter was a bit of a circus -no one wanted to hang onto the ball, it seemed. There were roughly one million turnovers (ok, five..but that's still a lot) in about ten minutes. All ended well, though. And since Cincinnati and Baltimore both lost, the Steelers moved into a tie for first in the AFC North.

The icing on the cake was that I had to go to Cleveland today for work, so I spent an enjoyable lunch rubbing salt in the wounds of some friends/Browns fans.

Next week - Brett Farve and the undefeated Vikings. Should be a barnburner.

Steelers 28, Lions 20

It's a win, but I didn't think it was a particularly impressive win. Once again, the Steelers started out strong but seemed to take their foot off the gas late in the game when they should have been slamming the door shut. The Detroit Lions are not a good football team, and Pittsburgh should have crushed them. They didn't even cover the 12-point spread.

They can probably get away with this again next week against Cleveland, but after that, they've got the Vikings, Broncos and Bengals on the schedule. Their play this week has not exactly got me brimming with confidence. C'mon, Steelers!

Steelers 38, Chargers 28

Hooray! The Steelers returned to Heinz Field last night and finally looked more like the team that won the Super Bowl last year. The running game was much improved - Rashard Mendenhall had a monster night, rushing for 165 yards and 2 TDs. Heath Miller, rapidly moving up on my list of favorite players, had a pair as well. Things got a bit tight in the 4th quarter when San Diego put together a late rally - a recovered onside kick and a fumble recovery in the end zone made things rather tense - but the Steelers put together a 50-yard drive in the closing minutes and Jeff Reed sealed the win with a beautiful 46-yard field goal. Yay!

What made watching this game particularly fun was exchanging text messages throughout with my friend Vivacious, who was at the game in person. Next week - at Detroit. Don't want to jinx anything here, but I'm fairly confident that the Steelers will emerge from that game with a good result. :-)