Okay so it's Blogger that hates me. At first I thought Blogger and Bluehost weren't getting along but it seems that a lot of people who host their own sites but publish through Blogger and FTP haven't been able to publish since Saturday. So I've hacked into the files at my web host to add this because as Greg pointed out, it's nice that I've left a PMS post up for days.
THE HALLOWEEN PICTURE!
Emily as Padme, Ally as Queen Amidala, Kelly as an Ewok, Kyle as Yoda, Zach as Darth Vader
Now then NaNoWriMo begins today so I better go start that. Also I volunteered at the school for 2 hours, have a Brownie meeting, a Girl Scout leader meeting, and this little issue of no groceries in my disaster of a house.
Quote of the Day: "I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once." -Jennifer Yane
Original Post:Blech.
Stupid PMS...
Yesterday I forgot to post because we were buying fabric at JoAnn's (note to self: stay away from the fabric remains bin), grocery shopping, and paying bills. And then I proceeded to divide, cook, and freeze 12 pounds of hamburger and 14 pounds of chicken into 18 meals. So at least everyone will be able to eat dinner while I ignore them for NaNoWriMo.
And then (because yesterday hasn't ended yet) we went to Target to buy Zach some long sleeve shirts because while he'll wear short sleeve shirts during the fall/winter months (the twins scream at me when I suggest this, they must have long sleeves because it's fall/winter! Nevermind it's 70 degrees out.), Zach has the bad habit of losing his jacket. Afterwards the twins had soccer practice which is when I wished it was still 70 degrees (you can never tell how cold it's going to get around here in an hour).
Today, back to the "blech." I really don't want to do anything but as always there are things that need to be done. The short list is laundry, pick up a cookie costume for Sunday's cookie booth sale (yep, we're going to be the annoying people outside the grocery store trying to get you to buy cookies), and finish the details on Ally and Kelly's costumes. All of a sudden, we now have a neighborhood association (seriously they created it like a week ago) and there's a Halloween costume parade tomorrow so my deadline got bumped up 2 days. Joy...
So to end this whole mess on a positive note (and I bet the only thing anyone will comment on), here's Kelly in her Ewok costume. We've convinced her to be an Ewok instead of a Wookie because of her height. But she pretty much looks like a teddy bear. Hopefully by tomorrow she'll have a tan suede hoodie thing and a stick. Because I like my children to carry sticks and light sabers. (Who's brilliant idea was the Star Wars theme again?)
It's NaNoWriMo time!
NaNo (not to be confused with those cute little iPods) is a wild and crazy 50,000 word novel writing experience that takes place every November. This is my 5th year attempting this feat and it's going to be an interesting one. Mostly because I don't have 30 days. Due to various planned out of state trips and family obligations I have about 22 days. And that's if we stay in Maryland for Thanksgiving (by ourselves, *sobs*).
The obvious solution would be a laptop. Which I don't have. And every year about this time I think, hey I should buy a nice used refurbished laptop. And every year I really don't have the money to buy a $200 laptop just to write a 50,000 word mess that will never make any money (well I should never say never but I have a better chance of winning the lottery and I don't play). I just bought a new digital camera and the New York trip itself is going to be a huge drain on the bank account.
Speaking of the New York trip, it's also sucking up 6 precious days of November. So if we would skip it, I'd have money for a laptop and extra writing time. But then I wouldn't need to buy a laptop because the reason for the laptop is to write while on the New York trip. Ugh, my brain hurts. Course we have unrefundable Broadway and hotel reservations. Oh and my in-laws would be pissed (they are going with us! Hi! I'm excited! Really!) and the girls would be devastated not to go to the American Girl Place. Me, people, we're talking about me here and my obsession to write 50,000 words of dribble once a year.
Where was I? Oh yeah, November, lots of words, no laptop, new T-shirt. New T-shirt!
(Why do my glasses make me look like I haven't slept in days and I run a meth lab out of the basement with all the Sudafed I buy? Also? Really need to do something with my hair.)
Here's a better picture of the t-shirt. I'm glad to see it's wrinkled on their models too because man, this fabric must be related to uh, something that wrinkles easily. I refuse to iron a t-shirt that just came out of the dryer on principle.
Oh I do have a plot. And characters. But I'll have to go into all that another day because I have 2 Halloween costumes to finish and one crazy Brownie mom (not the one who lost the order form/still hasn't picked up her cookies) that doesn't understand that just because she mistakenly wrote down her brother owes $7 (2 boxes) but he only ordered 1 box and that I caught her mistake and only gave her 1 box for him doesn't mean I owe her $3.50 or a box of cookies because she hasn't even paid me any money in the first place. (Her brother really did only order 1 box, she does agree that's correct.) Just give him his money back which I don't have because yes, she agrees she hasn't given me any yet. She's making a mistake over a mistake and driving me insane. I think I'm going to have to meet her in person because three emails and a phone call have not "fixed" this in her mind. *bangs head on desk*
(Back on topic, if you want to read about my previous NaNoWriMo's, go to my Writings page.)
I finally turned the heat on in the house. 57 degrees is a bit chilly.
The bus showed up 20 minutes early (the area stop is across the street, we're spoiled) which sent the kids into a panic. Especially since they had only rolled out of their warm beds a few minutes before. The driver waited until all the kids had boarded though.
Zach's home at the moment. He woke up with a scratchy throat and headache. It may be a touch of a cold or because he admitted he stayed up late to finish the last Lemony Snicket book
... I'll probably take him to school at lunch time.I really want to make a bunch of these ribbon key fobs (found at Pez's). Although I don't know what I'd do with them.
I have one mom who still hasn't picked up her GS cookie order. 4 other moms also completely spaced on the whole Sunday afternoon pick up. I've already sent her 2 emails and left a phone message. This is the one who lost the order form (she ended up ordering a few boxes for her family) so I'm not sure why I'm surprised.
And now my motto is "Halloween Costumes or Bust!"
Cookies!
59 cases total, 708 boxes of cookies... I've only eaten one Thin Mint cookie so far.
Oh and for history's sake, Zach had his very first non-family sleep over last night at a friend's house. I can't believe my little Zach Zach is growing up.
I was in a grumpy mood (OMG, the kids, the house, the stuff, WTF?) until I saw this on Greg's site. I hope he finds a nice nanny for the children.
Okay so I'm still grumpy. The kids have the day off from school (seriously are the kids ever in school?) and the house is a wreck. There are breakfast dishes from yesterday still in the sink, that's how bad it is, people. And the twins destroyed the house looking for their soccer shin guards last night. It was one of those supper annoying things, "how many freaking times have I told you to put them away so you'll know where they are next time?" I found them: one pair under the guest room bed and the other pair in the toy room stuffed animal bin. We were 10 minutes late for soccer practice.
I know all parents deal with this, stuff where it doesn't belong. It drives me fricking crazy. The backpacks are never in the backpack spot unless I put them there or I yell "Zach, Emily, Ally, where do your backpacks go?!?!" I'm not going to make the spot where they leave their backpacks the backpack spot just because I don't want them there (and it's slightly eye-twitching amusing that all 3 dump their backpacks in the same wrong spot every time).
The dishes are like the laundry. I say time and time again that we should all put our dirty dishes in the dishwasher as well as put our dirty laundry in the laundry basket. It's not sinking in. I don't know why I expect so much of them, Greg doesn't even seem to know where the dishwasher or laundry basket are either.
On my desk right now the items that don't belong: a baseball hat, a Christmas ornament, a box of band-aids, Kyle's Yoda figure, Zach's tamagotchi, the twin's star student papers, a screwdriver, and an empty Capri Sun box. And that's only my desk, multiply that by a 2000 square foot house.
I don't think the Halloween costumes are going to be finished today either. Cause if I have to stay in this house one more minute without cleaning (and yelling a bunch at the kids for making such a humongous mess), I'm going to pay someone 2 million dollars to kidnap me.
Not feeling so well today. I feel even worse about feeling sick because today I had planned to complete most of the kids' Halloween costumes. I even measured Ally before school to start on hers (between trips to the bathroom for me) and I know she's going to expect something when she hops off the bus in 2 hours.
Maybe I can distract them with chocolate chip cookies.
Random Stuff:
Greg is updating his camera phone photo blog again. There, my wifely duties are complete for the day.
Kyle, Kelly, and I ran errands yesterday. In order: Starbucks, Girl Scout store, JoAnn fabrics, Staples, Target, McDonalds, gas station, bank, post office, and Safeway. In the rain. Today? Not raining. *grumbles*
Progress on Halloween costumes: Zach (Darth Vader)- have black cape, black shirt, black pants, red lightsaber. Need helmet, gloves, dodad buttons on shirt and belt.
Emily (Padme)- have shirt, pants, boots, silver arm things. Need cape (I have the fabric, just haven't made it yet).
Ally (Queen Amidala)- um... have red fabric, black trim, and gold pen, needs to be put together. I have no idea what I'm doing for the crown and crazy hair yet.
Kyle (Yoda)- have green lightsaber, brown robe, and white overcoat (although it's been suggested I redo this in another fabric). Need to make hood with ears (have the green fabric).
Kelly (Wookie/Ewok)- have brown fur and suede fabrics, needs sewn.
Quote of the Day: "One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats." -Iris Murdock
Who knew they made Halloween Gingerbread Houses?
Since we've had such success with Christmas ones, I couldn't say no when Kyle saw it at JoAnn's last week. Course half the decorations were eaten by the kids before the icing set on the foundation and the chimney kept falling off (with some help from Kelly).
I think they make a Valentine's Day one too.
Halloween costumes? What Halloween costumes?
ARGH!
My morning:
Ally couldn't find her sweatpants (it's PE day) because the girls have decided that the back of their closet is a perfectly acceptable laundry basket and don't understand why I don't know this and why their clothes aren't being washed.
Zach not understanding that when I say I need 6 quarters for milk money, 5 dimes, a nickel, and 3 quarters aren't going to cut it. (He wasn't quite awake though.)
Emily crying about her lost jacket and that "it's cold!" when every single freaking day I say put your jacket here so you know where it is (I don't even make them hang the jackets up, we lay them across a chair next to the front door). I found the jacket on the kitchen floor where she had dropped it when coming inside for dinner last night.
The toilet overflowing while I was trying to pack lunches (see quarters above) and helping Emily find her stuff (see jacket above).
Two kids running back from the bus stop as I was trying to clean up the toilet overflow, Zach looking for his tamagotchi and Emily complaining that Zach had kicked her.
I'm going back to bed now...
One of the perks of being a SAHM is dancing around your living room in torn jeans and your husband's undershirt to The Killers without anyone making fun of you. (I'm so not cut out for an office job.)
Happy Friday the 13th!
Reason #326 Why My Children Are Weird:
My children are sniffing trash bags.
I accidentally bought vanilla scented trash bags at Target the other day. The kids think this is the best thing ever. Now I'm finding the roll of trash bags in odd places because one of them will take it off the shelf to smell it and then wander off with it to remind the other kids, "hey these trash bags smell like vanilla!"
So far I've found the roll on the toy room TV, under the guest room bed, in the hallway, and on my desk (that one is my fault because I took it away from someone while I was sitting at my desk).
Oh and don't worry about the kids putting the bags over their heads. Cause I can't get the darn bags open to actually put trash in them in the first place. So I'm not too concerned about the kids figuring it out either.
Do they make chocolate scented trash bags?
Okay so let's see if I have this straight.
I'm putting off sewing the Halloween costumes by knitting Christmas sweaters. But I'm writing instead of knitting the Christmas sweaters. Only I'm not writing either, I'm doing housework. But to avoid the housework I'm sewing totes and drawstring bags.
Yeah I feared that didn't make much sense.
(21 days until Halloween, plenty of time!)
30 before 30
These are 30 things I would like to do before I turn *cough* thirty on Sept 25, 2007. Thanks to Chris for the inspiration. Items in green have been accomplished.
1. Visit Canada (I don't know why, I've been obsessed with Canada lately.)
2. Drop my weight to 130 pounds. (It could happen.)
3. Finish my 3 wood elf novels. (After November...)
4. Print photos and catch up all our plain (non-scrapbook) photo albums. (I have a bunch already printed and in a box. The trick will be getting them into the albums.)
5. Run a 5k. (It could happen too!)
6. Take a dance class. (I did tap, ballet, and jazz as a child and teen, I'd love to try dance again. Maybe belly dancing!)
7. Learn sign language. (Seems like a good skill to have.)
8. See the Pacific Ocean. (Never seen it.)
9. Make homemade caramels. (Mmm, caramel... Course if I get good at making these then #2 will never happen.)
10. Kiss Greg over a romantic dinner. (Random goal but we were watching a TV show or commercial or something and I don't remember ever having kissed Greg over a romantic dinner.)
11. Grow a tomato plant. (Love garden fresh tomatoes!)
12. Enter the CK Hall of Fame contest. (I've entered before, might as well try again.)
13. Knit Christmas sweaters for the kids. (Go knitting go!)
14. Go to the American Girl store with the girls. (Cheating here, this is a planned event while we're in NYC in November. But I've wanted to do it for years.) Completed on 11/18/06
15. Visit a Smithsonian museum. (Free!)
16. Sell something on Etsy.com (Go, buy! Or request something so I can finish this one.) Completed on 11/2/06
17. Go ice skating. (And fall on my butt a lot.)
18. "Win" NaNoWriMo. (*crosses fingers* *then uncrosses fingers because it's really hard to type with crossed fingers*) Completed on 11/30/06 (barely)
19. Take the Brownie troop camping. (Planned for Spring 2007 if things go well.)
20. Sew Renaissance costumes for myself and my family. (Every fall I make this goal and every fall we go to a Renaissance Festival in 21st century clothes.)
21. Cook lamp chops. (Never done it, sounds like a cool thing to make.)
22. Start flowers from seed and not kill them after a week. (If I had a flower for every seed I've tried to grow, I'd have a hundred acre flower farm.)
23. Have five children. (Done! I so cheated, I completed this goal at age 25.)
24. Make the kids' scrapbook albums. (The actual albums themselves, I've had the supplies for this since Sept 2005. Two years to make album covers... Have you met my life?)
25. Ha, nice try! Nope, still not telling. (For Greg.)
26. Get a pedicure. (Never had one. Course I'd have to get over the whole "Some woman caught a flesh eating virus while receiving a pedicure" phobia.)
27. Paint a picture. (Paint-by-number totally counts.)
28. Do 10 real push-ups in a row. (Used to be able to do 60, ah, those ROTC days...)
29. Put together my unofficial guides and attempt to publish them. (Self publish perhaps?)
30. Accept being 30. (hahahahahahahahahahahahaha)
Scratch the last post... The kids have decided on a Star Wars theme: Zach-Darth Vader, Emily-Padme, Ally-Queen Amidala, Kyle-Yoda, and Kelly-Chewbacca. I tried to get Kelly to be the white robed Princess Leia but she really wants to be furry. *shrugs*
I finally have the kids' Halloween costume ideas! And dang it all, I couldn't get them to agree to a theme. Who's idea was this free will crap?
Anyway Zach will be a wizard, Emily a penguin (this one is already worrying me), Ally a black cat, Kyle wants to be Batman (old or new style?), and Kelly a butterfly. I'm going fabric/pattern shopping tomorrow and then I'll be chained to my sewing machine. See you in November!
Just kidding... Zach and Ally's costumes will be easy since I've sewn similar ones before. Kelly's won't be hard if I'm nice to myself and buy her pre-made wings (I've made wings from scratch before, they are annoying and I break a lot of needles). Kyle's will probably be a modified sweatsuit with a cape and mask.
And then there's Emily's... (I swear to God this child just loves to be difficult.) I'm not exactly sure how I'm suppose to make the long torso with no legs style with fabric without the costume looking like a baby's onesie that's too big. I need some sort of stuffing around her legs, I think. I'm ready to bang my head on my desk over her idea and I haven't even started it. But it took her over two weeks to decide and if I tell her "no penguins" she may not make up her mind again until Oct 29th. Her other idea was a dolphin (gah, a tail? and that nose? and no limbs at all?) so maybe a penguin isn't so bad after all.
Don't worry, you'll be getting costume updates all month long whether you like them or not. Here's a page I made with previous years' costumes: Halloween through the Years.
My costume? Slightly insane stressed out mom of 5...
People drive me nuts...
I really try to never rant about the Brownie moms (cause sometimes I'm a lousy Cub Scout mom but that's mostly because the Boy Scout stuff is filtered through Greg and he's a bit busy and things slip through the cracks occasionally. Like hosting Cub Scout den meetings.). I just have this pet peeve of people or things being late. Seriously, I freak if I'm going to be late to a meeting and I beat myself up over not turning in a paper on time. Obviously this doesn't worry other people so much...
So we now have 13 girls in the troop. I think I should have said no to the last two additions (a set of identical twins no less) because after two meetings they are driving me insane. But this isn't about them, it's about the fact that cookie order forms were due yesterday (and we had a meeting) and only half the parents remembered. Reminders? At the last meeting I reminded the girls and parents. I sent two emails out reminding them to bring the cookie order forms to the meeting. And the date is all over the forms and papers: OCT 4TH! COOKIE ORDER FORMS DUE!
See I wouldn't be such a bitch about it if I didn't have the area cookie manager breathing down my neck for the orders. And I sure as heck don't want to be late turning in my set of forms to her (they are due tomorrow the 6th, I'm smart and gave myself 2 days to deal with this). So I told all the parents, drop the orders off by my house, put them in the mailbox, I won't be home (see yesterday's Girl Scout leader service unit meeting).
Returning home there were 4 of the 6 forms in the mailbox. So I called the first missing one and the mom's like, "we didn't sell any cookies." WTF? You think I'm going to be able to give your daughter a year's worth of activities, Try-It patches, camping, and field trips for a measly $25 dues? I may be frugal but I'm not that good. (Side note: I'm seriously thinking about upping the dues next year and not relying on the cookie money so much. Sucks for me because I'll have to pay twice as much even though I've worked to help my girls sell cookies. This is so not worth the hassle.)
The second one lives down the street literally and I spoke to her husband. For whom English is not his first language and he's kinda hard to understand (and I'm not sure he understands me). Seems they've lost their order form. Nice... I told them I need it by noon today or we can deal with their order in November (these "pre-orders" are delivered in two weeks, everything else will wait until November).
I love Girl Scouts, I like being a leader, heck I even really like being the troop cookie manager in a strange sadistic sort of way (plus I have all the cookies first!). But people... People drive me nuts...
This is the migraine that never ends... Yes it goes on and on, my friends...
So we skipped "Walk to School Day" because of my headache. Today is also Scouts day here (Brownie meeting after school, Cub Scout meeting and a Girl Scout leader service unit meeting both after dinner). I've pawned off the planning of 3 Brownie meetings to the co-leader. However today's wasn't one of them. It's mostly planned, I just need to gather supplies and print some checklists. But I'd rather be in a cool, dark quiet room sleeping instead.
In an attempt to beat off my sluggish migraine mood, Kyle, Kelly and I were out of the house as soon as the kids were on the bus. I've found that getting Starbucks at Target and then shopping there is a nice way to spend the morning. Except not so much when Kelly spills her hot chocolate on herself, the cart, and the floor of the shoe section.
Crap, I forgot to pick up Greg's new suit while we were out. Maybe Chick-n-Play for lunch will help me feel better...
Is it Thursday yet?
I don't watch a lot of TV (although I often sit in a room with a TV on but there's a difference) and one of the few shows that I enjoy is on the SciFi channel, Eureka. It's like a light hearted X-Files set in a cute little town. And the main male character is kinda good looking too.
But tonight is the season finale... If you haven't seen the show, you're in luck, SciFi channel is running all the episodes today (set your DVR's!). The only other show I make an effort to watch is Project Runway and it also ends this month. *sigh*
I guess this means I'll have more time to stock my Etsy shop, sew 5 Halloween costumes, write a 50,000 word novel, and knit 5 Christmas sweaters and stockings. (Why do I have the feeling that freeing 2 hours a week isn't really going to help?)
The kids are out of school today (Happy Yom Kippur!) so it's like having a little bit of summer again. Except for the fact it's 60 degrees outside.
Today's plans include cleaning the guinea pig cage, paying bills, and pulling out the kids' winter clothes. My life is so darn exciting...
Quote of the Day: "Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong." -George Carlin
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