Happy Halloween!

Halloween is in full swing around our house. Last night we had our annual Halloween/Pumpkin party. We managed to pack 30 people in our yard and house. Thank goodness that the weather was beautiful and that most activities took place outdoors.
We had a chili dinner and everyone brought goodies to share. Everyone enjoyed playing in the yard (especially jumping on the trampline), playing Frisbee, eating all the yummies, hanging out, carving pumpkins, etc. I’m pretty sure that people had a good time.
I don’t know how our parties have morphed into such a large group. This year’s crowd was twice the size of last years. I don’t plan on doubling for next year… so I hope we don’t make any new friends! Haha!
Today I plan to have a few little games and activities for our neighbor kids since they weren’t involved with our group last night.
Tomorrow, we’ll do some brief Trick or Treating at a few houses and then head to a nearby church that hosts an event called “Trick or Trunk”. They have a big production of games, pizza, a moon bounce and ‘trick or treating’ out of car/van trunks. T took the kids last year while I worked. This year, I’m happy that I can tag along for the fun.

D and L will be dressing as Power Rangers tomorrow thanks to the b-day costumes from Grandma and Papa.
I’ll be dressing as a hip mom and T will be a cool dad. Like always. Tee hee.

please pray

I know that many of you read the blogs that are listed in my margin.
I wanted to be sure that you kept up to date on Cherie's blog.
This is truly an exciting time for them and big things are about to happen. So... I ask that you keep them in your prayers over the next few weeks... and over the years to come!! They will have alot of excitement and emotions to deal with over the next few months especially.
I am so encouraged as I read her blogs. God has truly blessed them, and the babies. (15 pounds of babies!)
And to know that she may carry them to term is an exta blessing.
so keep them in your prayers!

A model mother

I managed to put D on the bus this morning and go downstairs with L. He was finishing a video about Tom Sawyer. I told myself that I would just nap a little on the couch while he finished the video and then we’d start to get ready for our day.
It turns out that I napped through Tom Sawyer AND a two hour DVD of Sponge Bob Episodes.
I decided to wake up and get showered at 10am!! Poor little L… his brain is probably full of mush today. It may take weeks to get him back to normal. Amazingly he’s been very nice after his tv marathon. He may have needed the Sponge Bob mindlessness this morning.
I hate to say it but I am secretly proud of my nap this morning. I never get to nap like that in the am. This was the first day that I can remember that we didn’t have anything planned. It was a good lazy morning. We did manage to drag ourselves out to Walmart to buy some fire-starter bricks. They’ll come in handy if it gets cold tonight.

Extremes

It’s amazing how well our wood stove heats up this house.
Yesterday morning we woke up to a chilly 61 degrees inside. Granted, it was about 34 outside, I know.
T got the wood stove up and running last night and we woke to a toasty 73 degrees and even have a window cracked now. It often seems like we go from one extreme to the next. I figure that we’ll get things regulated as the weather continues to cool down. I’m just thankful that we’ll have the free heat this winter. I’d hate to think about our electric bill if we had to solely use our baseboard heaters.

Thinking of extremes. My lovely hubby is going to an extreme today and traveling to meet his buddy, Norb, in Kentucky.
(T recently got his motorcycle license).
Norbert decided to let T use his motorcycle during the months of the year that it’s too cold to ride near Chicago, where Norbert lives. Meaning, T could ride now and most of the spring… until it warms up in the north.
And, it just so happened that Norbert would be traveling for business this week to Kentucky. So these two planned to meet up and swap the bike. T will bring it home in his truck.
This happened to all come about this week, but ya never know what these guys are thinking…
I suppose it’s a lot better than T buying his own bike. So I’m trying to bite my tongue and smile.

L and I are going on a field trip today to the pumpkin farm. Last Friday, the farm was extremely muddy so our trip was postponed until today. We are looking forward to the corn maze, the hay bale maze and picking a pumpkin.

I’m glad that it’s Wednesday.

cat dog

I think that our cat is human. Or atleast very similar to a dog.
He has always been an odd sort of cat. Very interactive and involved in our family.
In his young days he would retrieve cat toys and bring them back, like a dog playing catch.
This morning, I was especially amused as Mr. Q (that's his name) sat in the empty chair at breakfast, in an upright sitting position, and just watched us eat. He had a very thoughtful look, similar to an older gentlemen who may be sitting with his family. he would look at each of us as we talked and even follow the food with his eyes as we ate.
I made sure that his food dish was full and that he had plenty of water. So obviously he wasn't hungry. He just felt like joining us for breakfast.
This is a new thing for him and I admit it's a little peculiar.
It's always interesting to see what he does next.
Currently he lives at our house but makes frequent visits to our neighbors... who also have a bowl of cat food available to him. Some afternoons, he'll nap at their house and then decide to come home and use the litter box. What a brat.
We've been pretty lucky to have such a dog like cat. All the attributes of a dog but not all the hassle.
I love cats.

I'm thankful for Friday.

Reasons for me to be glad that it is Friday:

-I finally got a hold of the new Janet Evanovich book, 'Twelve Sharp'. It came out in June, and I was 26th on the waiting list at the library. Getting it in October was quicker than I expected!

-I bought cool stamps today at the post office.

-Lucas’s field trip to the farm was postponed today (which is sad, but it is rescheduled for next Wednesday). And since I have a free morning, I can vacuum and get things done around the house. Huge weight lifted because…

-We are having small group tonight.

-I am making cookie bars for small group. Yummy.

-I can stay up late tonight and watch tv.

-I can sleep in late tomorrow!!

-And we don’t have any plans for tomorrow. That is extremely rare for a Saturday. I suppose we’ll do some work in the yard, etc. I’m looking forward to a nice weekend.

loosing it

I think that I’m just not supposed to blog these days!! I wrote the following blog LAST night (Monday) and I have been trying to post it ever since. Trying for almost 24 hours… I’ve just had extremely horrible connection for the past few days!!
So if you are reading this… I finally got online:

I really wanted to post a blog tonight. (Monday) But it looks like I’ll be writing tonight and posting tomorrow morning (Tuesday). I am slowly loosing my mind as I deal with this slow computer connection!!!

Speaking of loosing…. I lost money tonight. And not at a game of poker.

I hired a babysitter tonight while I went to work. For what it’s worth… She made more money babysitting my kids than I made at work. Interesting. I suppose the kids are worth it though, right? Hmmmm….

On a brighter note:

It’s officially my opinion that it is okay for everyone to start decorating for Halloween as of today. (Monday)
We did.
(I am physically unable to do anything regarding Halloween until we get D’s bday done with each year. We celebrated that on Saturday, so naturally I wanted to jump feet first into my Halloween planning today!!)
I have my party invites ready to mail!!
I always get so excited about Halloween decorations and then I pull my boxes out to discover that I just don’t have many. Luckily the kids are fascinated by the fiber optic pumpkin-headed scarecrows that we have. They were a great clearance bargain a few years ago… only $4!!
I’m hoping that I can stock up on clearance things this year.

Night night. (Monday)
Or I suppose I should be saying Happy day. (Tuesday)
Actually. Good night (Tuesday)
FINALLY!!

out of my box

deep thought for today:
Chicken with bones is not as gross as I previously thought.

I have recently cooked chicken that I purchased with bones and skin... still on it. I know that is a foreign concept to many of you, as it was to me.
I first attempted to make bbq chicken legs like T's granny makes. That turned out pretty well, and I've done that twice.
And tonight, I am making a one dish recipe with bone-in chicken and potatoes. So far, so good.

The thing that always grossed me out was the possibility that I'd actually have to touch the chicken!
But when it came to the moment of truth, I told myself to be brave!!
What an accomplishment.
It's actually quite simple to prepare.... someone told me to use a paper towel, grab onto that skin and just yank it off. I know.... yuck... the first few times I got the same feeling you get when someone scratches their finger nails on a chalkboard. But after a few chicken pieces, I've gotten the hang of it.

I'm confident that if we ever had to grow chickens to survive, I could atleast skin one. maybe. Someone else would have to take care of the killing and draining... or whatever people do to chickens.

I can remember stories of my grandmother growing up on the farm. And I think about how pitiful our generation is!!
Think of how lucky we are with our american culture and our fast food mentality. We are So spoiled. I feel pretty selfish even writing about the woes of skinning chicken when people all over the world kill and prepare their own meat. What a wimp I am.

anywho.
just wanted to give a shot out to the chicken with the bones and skin. I highly recommend it.

I may have been...

I happened to be shopping at Target on Friday morning. Wearing normal clothes… not red and khaki. I ran into a few young guys that I work with. We chatted briefly and I continued on my kid-free shopping excursion.
I showed up at work on Saturday and was talking to one of the same guys, named Tony….
Somehow we started talking about kids. We confirmed that I had two kids. He said that he had disputed that fact with the other employee, Torian, on Friday morning after they had talked with me. The other guy thought I had three.
Anyway… as the conversation continued Tony says “Yeah, Torian and I were thinking that you were probably pretty hot before you had kids”.
I agreed that I was thinner before kids. And he continues to say “yeah, It’s just a given that things change after women have babies”.
Hmmm…. Am I supposed to dwell on this comment now??
Ummm…..Maybe I was “probably hot” before kids.
Was that a compliment or an insult??
I just kind of laugh to myself when I think about this lovely conversation. (And in a way I am flattered that I was a topic of their conversation. I made some kind of impression, right?) :p
Luckily I work with Tony and Torian a lot and their comments are fine… Atleast I know that they may have thought I was a hottie in my younger years.
Maybe it’s just a hint of what I should strive for in my older years. I know of other hottie moms. Perhaps I need to get motivated so I can impress my young co-workers. Oh…or impress my husband too.
:-)