We are ready! We have carved the pumpkins. We have roasted the seeds. We have adjusted the costumes. We have managed to stay healthy! Now there’s only one thing left to do. GET CANDY!
So tonight, Chris will go to work, and I will load Maggie, excuse me, the lady bug, into the stroller. Spiderman and I will walk door to door collecting as much candy as we can manage. Then we will return home, where will dump the candy bucket onto the floor and sort the candy. I will then charge him Mommy Tax (at least 30%, with more winkled away later).
I am very excited for Trick or Treating this year because Jonas is old enough to really get in the mood of things. Three is a very fun age in regards to holidays. Finally I can say, “hey we are going to go trick or treating and get candy!” and he doesn’t look at me like I’m speaking a foreign language. We’ve already done a quick run through at church with the Trunk or Treating. The first fifteen cars he very sweetly said “trick or treat”and “thanks.” After those he changed trick or treat to “more candy” but he still said thanks, so I think he’s doing a pretty good job. I just love the fact that he doesn’t feel the need to stop and eat every piece of candy as he receives it.
If you aren’t yet feeling the Halloween spirit, here’s a few Halloweeny shots for you! After all, who can resist a baby in a pumpkin?
Need something creepy? How about this fella? I nearly walked right through him the other day at my in-laws (shudder shudder shudder).
Posted by Lou on October 31, 2005 @ 4:10 pm | 3 Comments
Filed in: Me
Last night’s Halloween party was a blast! We watched Jonas play all sorts of silly games and win little prizes, had a costume parade, and chatted with friends. Jonas went as Spiderman and Maggie went as a ladybug.
They had a few games of guess the weight of the pumpkin and how many M&Ms are in the jar too. I checked out the pumpkin, gave it a good look, compare it’s size to the size of the child in my arms, and decided that it probably weighed as much as Jonas does, so I wrote down 33.5 lbs. Later that evening, my friend Crystal and I were chatting when they started to announce the winner. They said that the winner had guessed the weight exactly, and my ears perked up, being one who had guessed a more specific weight. Then they said the pumpkin weighed 33.5 lbs. By the time they had gotten the first half of the number out I was smacking my friend’s arm and jumping up and down, because I really am that ditzy.
I won the pumpkin. All 33.5 lbs. Mine. All. Mine. Woo-hoo!
I had Chris carry it out to the car for me, but when we got out there I decided we should get a picture of me with my prize. I heaved the gigantic vegetable up and smiled pretty for the camera.
After have the picture taken, I squatted ever so gently down and heard the distinct sound of ripping fabric coming from my thighs. I bent over, and much to my consternation discovered that I did, indeed, rip my pants, right on the inside of the thigh, right out in public. How are the mighty fallen.
Now I will admit these jeans were on their way out, but I fully expected a knee blowout before I had a thigh blowout. This did, unfortunately, prove my theory that, although I have lost six lbs, my thighs are larger. Is this information slowing the rate at which I am inhaling Jonas’ Halloween candy? Not so much. And the holidays are right around the corner! I might as well slather myself in gravy.
Signing off for now,
Thunder Thighs
Posted by Lou on October 30, 2005 @ 12:57 am | 4 Comments
We had a great weekend with my in-laws. We visited a pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay, CA, took pictures, enjoyed the crisp fall weather and took lots of pictures! It was Maggie’s first year doing this and Jonas’ third. It is absolutely one of my favorite (and quite possibly the only) tradition my little family has.
So, yesterday I threw this together and boy did it feel good to be scrapping for myself! I’ve been doing so much for ebay and custom work I haven’t been able to touch my own photos. Not that I’m complaining, I like doing the custom stuff. If you like this layout, I have a mini album done inn the same style on ebay right now and it’s going for a song, quite literally for the cost of supplies, so if you are interested, check it out.
Tonight we will attend our church Halloween party, eat lots of junk and participate in the annual “Trunk or Treat” where we trick or treat from cars. Jonas is going as Spiderman and Maggie is going to be a lady bug, as long as I can locate all the pieces to the costumes. With all the weekend trips and illness and constant all consuming scrapbooking, the house is, well, not quite up to Good Housekeeping standards. Today I must pay my dues to the master of all household cleaners and scrub, organize, and spit shine until I drop. I may, at that point, have turned the house from a certifiable health hazard to someplace social services would approve my keeping the children.
Other good news: Chris got a promotion! He has been elevated from Air Force Piss-Ant to Humble, Groveling Lesser Peon and all the privileges and the raise that comes with that. So we are grateful. We thought he wasn’t getting promoted for another month, so this early business is great! We also found out that Chris’ name is on a Utah state list for unclaimed property. Apparently Wal-Mart owes him $186.00 from way back when he was their slave in order to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. I was pretty sure we left Utah with them owing us, but since they are a truly horrible company who treat their employees like dirt and sometimes the stress simply isn’t worth the gain, we never pursued the issue. Now, Utah is sending us a claim thing and we should get paid relatively soon. Excellent. Now repeat after me: DO NOT SHOP AT WAL-MART unless they are the only people who carry what you need. If you live in a small town where Wal-Mart is it as far as shopping goes, I understand, we’ve been there, but if you have a Target or something like unto it- go there.
Enjoy your day. Enjoy the weekend, Enjoy life. Create something and show it to me on your blog or in person. Creation is good. Creation is healthy. Try it.
Posted by Lou on October 28, 2005 @ 6:46 pm | 11 Comments
You would think it was Christmas at our house the way I have been stalking the postman lately! I have been ordering stuff online, mostly scrapbooking stuff, all are things that I can’t get here yet (because the people doing the ordering at my local scrapbook store seriously need my guidance, I mean what are they thinking and why aren’t things ordered on time so I can fill up my punch card and get free stuff when I buy this junk instead of having to pay shipping on it?)
So, I am not so patiently waiting with ideas swirling around in my head about how I am going to use my new quickutz leaf dies (Gramma gave me birthday money 
), and the sparkling plans I have for my new Basic Grey Blitzen holiday paper, (prepare to be utterly blown away if I manage to catch my imagination up with what I am actually creatively capable of).
On top of the things I have actually ordered I have been blessed with a few flawed items in my recent trips to the scrapbook store. Ordinarily, a flawed item kind of bites. You have to take it back and hope for a replacement and you get nothing out of the deal but spent gas and time wasted. However, with a few of the better scrapping companies, you delightfully discover that Basic Grey has given you two of every letter in the last half of the alphabet in their new chipboard monograms, as opposed to the full alphabet once. So, you call the company where a very nice lady named Nancy promises to send you a new package and you get to keep the old ones Beat that, baby! Did you know you can spell Snow and Stop and Zoo when you have the second half of the alphabet twice? Did you ever think you’d be thinking about what you can spell using only the second half of the alphabet twice? Neither did I, but I digress. I was also blessed with crooked brads and off center punched flowers, which are usable, as long as I use them with a brad big enough to hide the humongous hole I had to tear in the center of the flower to adhere it, but hey, of course I’m going to pop over to the Making Memories website and point out the flawed products because they will send new ones, that I can use as originally intended, instead of all creative and wonky like. And, I save the worst examples, just in case they want evidence that I’m not a total wacko begging for free stuff, which I could be, were it not for the darned guilt complex I have that makes me not go to the store, write down product bar codes and call and complain so they send me free stuff. I mean, I think about these things, but seriously, I function with a level of guilt that puts a Catholic to shame. If I stole I literally wouldn’t be able to sleep. Heck, the first time I french kissed a guy I cried for two days because OH MY HECK THE SHAME OF IT! Thus we see, Lou has to be basically good, because of the guilt which renders her psycho. I can think about being devious and cunning and bad, but in reality I just hope for the occasional freebie based on good karma for not being devious, because that’s how it works, RIGHT?
So, anyway, like I said. I’m busy stalking the postman, willing the packages here with my extraordinary mind power so I can play with my new stuff, and put more stuff on ebay, so I can buy more stuff and stalk the postman and continue the cycle that will probably send me to my grave or at least the looney bin.
Posted by Lou on October 26, 2005 @ 4:27 pm | 7 Comments
Jonas and Maggie love to pass the time by sitting on the back of the couch staring out the window. We live right by a fire station so every time the sirens blow Jonas runs to the window looking for the rescue heros and Spiderman to jump into action.
They really are quite fond of each other. It’s a neat thing to watch.
I keep getting flak and feeling guilt about not taking many photos of Jonas n the past few months. The thing is, every shot I take has this exact same scowl on it because Jonas Jonas thinks that pictures are a waste of time. He is all dressed up in his Fireman costume for the Annual Fire Saftey Parade. He’s awfully grouchy for someone who’s pockets are loaded with parade candy, wouldn’t you say?
The next few shots are part of a series I call, “Teething, A Gummy Nightmare”
What a teething baby looks like.
Finally they drug me! Sweet relief from chewing on the Tylenol bottle.
Woo-hoo! The Tylenol kicked in! I can feel joy again!
Dang, This is some Good Stuff! More Tylenol! More! More!
For TJ, A Ruffle- Butted Baby
She’s a charmer.
Experimenting with Bowls.
So there you go, possibly the least amount of pictures I’ve taken in one month since the kids have been born.
Posted by Lou on October 19, 2005 @ 6:05 pm | 12 Comments
Saturday morning I set Maggie on the floor and heard her crawl off to Jonas’ room to play. I lounged in my bed, enjoying the peace and listening to their giggles. A bit later, Maggie started to make her frustrated sound. Since it was on a very minor level I decided to let her work out whatever was bugging her, which typically she can manage. About a minute later “frustrated” escalated to “ok, I’m starting to get really ticked off here,” so I lumbered out of bed to go help her out. She met me in the hall where I found that Jonas had slathered her, head to toes, with special attention paid to her hair and face, in absorbase. Absorbase is Maggie’s eczema cream. I am sure it is first cousins to Crisco, as it looks, feels, and presents the same level of difficulty when you are trying to wash it out of your hair.
Because Maggie had her eyelashes full of white gunk I quickly took a warm rag to get it off before it got in her eyes. Since she wasn’t screaming, I assumed it hadn’t gotten that far, but the way she was rubbing her face it was headed there. Once her eyes were basically clear I stripped off both of our clothes and hopped in the shower with her to try, unsuccessfully to scrub the goop out of her hair. I got about half of it out when her tolerance level maxed out and I had to stop slathering her with soap and then drowning her in the water, so we got out of the shower.
I went into Jonas’ room to finish chewing him out. Before I could form words I saw that his train table, carpet, bedding, toys, bunk bed and window were all liberally greased. Almost the entire tub of cream was artfully slathered about the room. It took me over an hour to clean everything up.
The rest of the day I was cranky and tired. Chris worked twelve hour shifts all weekend because the air show is in town. All that means to me is that instead of listening to the occasional C-5 revving up we are now favored with Thunderbirds taking off with a roar making it impossible to keep a baby down for a nap. It also means that there was no driving anywhere this weekend because the meanest trip to the store would result in an hour long traffic jam due to the people flocking onto base and the total disorganization with which traffic was being diverted. ( I know, because my husband was one of the poor slobs who got volen-told for that job and every five minutes he had someone yelling at him to change what he was doing, and do it another way for five minutes until the next guy came along and bawled him out for whatever he had just been told to do.) This, paired with a really severe cold made Chris extra good tempered when he arrived home Saturday night. As we all went to bed that night I marveled at my good fortune of, for the first time ever, having everyone else get sick and me not catching it.
Sunday morning at six am I woke up with a fever and puked my guts out right as Chris yelled, “Bye!” and left for another twelve hour shift. I spent the remainder of the day running to and from the bathroom with Maggie screaming her displeasure over the abandonment and Jonas seizing the opportunity to get into stuff and throw hundreds of bits of pasta about the house.. It was a long, long day. To sum up, I may never eat onion rings again.
So, it is now Monday morning. I’m not puking. I am very weak and dizzy and can’t handle walking very well. I’m having hot and cold flashes. So, I’m sick, but not like yesterday sick. Jonas drew on the couch cushions with blue pen while I was in bed and Chris was in the shower. If it doesn’t come out, the cushions can be flipped over. Amazingly, our new couches lasted almost one year to the day of being purchased without any major destruction. In a house with small children, this is truly miraculous.
Posted by Lou on October 17, 2005 @ 7:27 pm | 14 Comments
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