Learning about pumpkins the hard way ....

So my sister and Jose bought us two big, beautiful pumpkins this fall. They were perfect.

And I ruined both of them.

The first one I ruined before I even got a chance to carve it. Snow sat on it for a few days, I brought it inside, it rotted.

Pumpkin No. 2 was carved into a lovely, lovely owl. (Just like this picture from marthastewart.com). I thought, "Well, this one I'll just keep inside, then the snow won't ruin it." Left for a basketball trip. Came back two days later, and my beautiful owl was turning blue and the inside was a terrible web of mold.

Drats.