Happy Halloween!
Along with the crappy store bought costumes, I also have an issue with lighting in pictures. Oh well... Ally as a green dragon fly fairy (according to the packaging), Zach as a vampire, Kelly as Wonder Woman, Emily as a Halloween witch (again "packaging"), and Kyle as a skeleton (I think).
So like I said, to make up for not sewing costumes, here's the yummy treats I put together:
Tootsie pop ghosts, pretzels with orange pretzel dip, pumpkin cookies, Oreo spiders, spiced apple cider (in the cauldron mug), and rice krispie eye balls. You know, just in case the kids didn't bring home a gazillion pieces of candy, we'd still be able to get our sugar fix...
This week I'm tempted to change the name of the blog to "Ramblings of a Out of Home Mom."
Yesterday I went on Zach's field trip to some museums in Indianapolis. Yay for indoor field trips!
Last night I took the kids to a haunted house. They've been bugging me for ages and there, they can quit asking to go now. Course we still need to carve pumpkins...
Tomorrow I'm scheduled to help out in one of the kid's class rooms. And it's Halloween! To make up for the crap store bought costumes, I'm making some Halloween treats like spiced apple cider, lollipop ghosts, Oreo spiders, and rice krispie treat eye balls. And some type of cookie (may just buy pumpkin shaped ones).
Today I need to go clothing shopping. I'm very sad and sorry to say there will probably be a funeral in our future. Greg's grandmother has been really sick for a while and everyone thinks the end is near. It's seems wrong to be practical at this time of mourning but the kids really don't have anything to wear. And since there doesn't seem to be much I can do besides pray, I might as well make sure the kids look appropriate when the time comes.
We survived the camping trip although I'm still dealing with laundry from it.
Yesterday I froze my butt off walking around downtown Indianapolis on Emily and Ally's field trip. Of course I would volunteer for the outdoor field trip on the coldest day so far. We also went into the State House which was pretty cool. And warm.
Then we bought Halloween costumes. Already made ones from Target. I was seriously misty eyed driving home. It was partly a time issue (as in, there is no time left to sew) and the kids and I never really agreed on what they wanted to be. A 10 year tradition down the drain. They were excited about "buying" costumes though. *shrugs*
A picture from yesterday: (More here)
We're going camping this weekend. It's raining and cold out. I'm rather whiny about this.
We're staying in cabins of a family member's friend so at least we won't be in tents. While it's raining and cold out. *whine*
The kids are excited because there will be fishing and my older cousins have offered to help carve pumpkins (which we bought yesterday). My kids aren't listening as I whine about the rain and cold.
I need to pack and run through the grocery store for a few items today. Come on people, it's raining and cold out!
Nobody ever listens to me.
The kids are home from school for Fall Break. Which means my brain is no longer functioning in uninterrupted thoughts. That has been the biggest surprise in having all the kids in school, being able to think. It's totally why philosophers never get married or have kids. How can you puzzle out the meaning of life when your wife needs you to take out the garbage and the kids want to know what happens when you cut the cat's whiskers off?*
Anyway, some random thoughts since that's all I'm going to be allowed until Monday.
My cats squeak and wail. They do not meow. And Oscar is allergic to something because he's always sneezing and the vet says it's not a cold. They also do not like the lower level (finished basement).
I need to remember to knit Christmas stockings for everyone this year. I've had the yarn for like 3 years. And I need to remember to start before Dec 20th. Which is usually the time I remember and then it's kinda too late for that year.
I think I want to take up ice hockey. I can't believe that after years of whining about cold ice rinks that I want to play. Funny thing is, about half of Zach's equipment (including his brand new $250 skates) fit me. Did I mention he's not playing this year? Someone needs get some use out of those freaking skates.
Still no ideas on the Halloween costumes (it's still weeks away, right? Right?). I've kinda given up on the Nintendo Mario Brothers theme because no one will be Mario so what's the point? At the moment, the middle 3 want to be devils and Kelly a princess. Zach is undecided but mentioned being a vampire. BORING! *sigh*
We need to go to the pumpkin patch today, tomorrow, or Friday. Thinking it's not going to be today. It's suppose to be warmer tomorrow anyways.
* No cats were harmed in the blogging of this post. Although Oscar sneezed twice.
Just survived 5 parent/teacher conferences. Everything went as I expected, the one surprise was how Kyle is turning out to be quite the creative writer/illustrator. Quick, let's get this kid a book deal!
My brain is fried, can we call it a day yet?
I did 12 loads of laundry yesterday. 3 loads of darks, 2 whites, 1 pastels, 1 jeans, 1 load of sheets, 2 comforters, 2 of towels. The more impressive part is all but the 2 loads of towels are folded and put away. And I did my bi-yearly purge of the kids' closets. As usual Kyle and Kelly have tons of winter clothes due to hand-me-downs and the twins have nothing. Even Zach has some stuff from last year although he's due for a growth spurt. The frustrating part is I bought two sets of jackets/hoodies for the oldest 3 last year and we don't have them. I'm not sure the items made the move. They were probably left at school and are now at a Maryland charity shop. See I donate to good causes without even knowing it. *sigh*
Great, I am crazy.
While we continue naval gazing, I have unhappily joined the ranks of people who go on a diet to lose weight and gain 2. One more pound and I'll weigh as much as I did when I gave birth to twins. Granted I only gained 25 max with each pregnancy including the twins but it sucks that now I pretty much need to lose 25 pounds. Go me...
TGIF! Mostly because I can not take another morning of getting the kids up and ready for school. They don't want to get out of bed, they don't like any of their clothes, they don't want to eat what's offered for breakfast, they don't want to pack lunch. Usually it's one kid per issue (in the above order: Kyle, Kelly, Emily & Ally, Zach) but when it's all added up, it's one big messy grumpy morning.
Pity party over. Let's go back to rainbows and sunshine and kittens.
I just finished the November issue of Real Simple magazine. And of course there's an article about gratitude (November=Thanksgiving. And Black Friday). So here are
I'm thankful to have one of my sisters live nearby and who drops in to watch The Office with me (also thankful the writers' strike is over). I'm thankful my other sister crochets lovely items for me and my family (pillows, hats, kitty toys, an afghan to name a few). I'm thankful for my brothers even if we don't see each other very often.
I'm thankful my best friend of 25 years still puts up with me.
I'm thankful to the rest of my family for giving me The Crazy (joking!). Really I'm just glad they are all still alive and healthy and deal pretty well with my phone phobia. (Gah, I'm sounding more nuts by the minute.) I'm thrilled beyond belief that family is one of those things I never need to complain about, I have great in-laws, loving parents, goofy but awesome siblings, a sweet sarcastic husband, and 5 great (mostly) kids. I won the family lottery. Which must mean I got bumped out of the "look like a supermodel" one.
Oh oh, one more whine before I go. Who turned off the heat? (It's 40F, 4C here this morning.) Can I request it be summer time again already? I.do.not.like.the.cold. It makes me crazy.
Do you know a mom who goes on field trips and plans Girl Scout meetings and seems to have it all together?
Well if she's anything like me, she's a freaking mess beforehand.
I have this bizarre fear/worry/nervousness before an event or outing or whatever whenever I'm in charge or out of my element (my element = my house, my 5 kids and Greg). Yesterday it was Kelly's field trip to a local pumpkin patch. Due mostly to always having little ones at home, I've never been able to volunteer to go on field trips. So yesterday was my first. And you would not believe the nightmares I had that night before: I arrived at school too late and missed the bus, I forgot the lunches, I lost the kids, I didn't know how to get back to the school from the pumpkin patch, etc.
And of course the field trip went perfectly, I arrived several minutes early and Kelly loved the lunch I brought for us. Why do I feel so awful before?
Today it was a Girl Scout meeting. I traded being the twin's Brownie leader for being Kelly's Daisy leader. The plan was to meet at a local park and pick up trash. Seriously nothing more difficult than that. All I have to do was show up with trash bags (another mom brought surgical gloves, ha). Yet this morning I was in a panic, I didn't want to do it, I wanted to cancel, I can't go through with this.
Again the meeting went perfectly, I even rounded up some examples out of my van on the spot to show the three R's, Recycle (Mountain Dew can), Reuse (a cardboard box holding Kelly's nature "treasures"), and Reduce (cloth grocery bags). The girls loved picking up trash, beforehand I was worried they would refuse. Instead they had so much fun with it. (Lesson learned: forget taking your kids to the zoo or amusement parks, let them pick up trash.) Another mom told me she was so impressed with how calm and well put together I always am at the meetings. Good thing she didn't see me 3 hours ago.
Why do I feel so awful before something like this? I'm fine once the meeting/event is under way and seriously I doubt you'd ever know I was an emotional wreck beforehand. Something about the anticipation doesn't sit well with me. To add fuel to the fire, these reactions worry me, what if I get worse and actually start canceling things or not volunteering in the first place?
There's a quote something like "1 out of every 4 people is crazy. If 3 of your friends are normal then it's you." I'm beginning to think I'm the crazy one...
(Seriously, am I the crazy one?)
You'll never guess in a million years what I did last night.
Here's a hint:
My birthday gift from Greg was a hot air balloon ride! It was a big surprise and I was so shocked and excited. And a bit nervous if I'm being honest. Take off had me a little uneasy but once we were floating along, it was so cool. And right now all the trees are such lovely shades of red, yellow, and green that the views were breath taking. Here's a golf course:
I'll upload more pictures to Flickr later but right now I have to go to a Girl Scout Leader meeting, grocery shopping, and some other random errands. If you ever have a chance to go up in a hot air balloon, GO! It really was the most amazing fun.
I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed at the moment.
It's not that there's anything huge going on, all the little things are getting to me. People keep calling me for play dates for the kids (darn, why can't mine be anti-social monsters?). One, I hate talking on the phone and two, I honestly hate play dates. Especially since I don't know anyone here yet and we have to go through that whole awkward "are you really a serial killer with a meth lab in your basement" type stuff. Which I know they aren't (cause I figure someone else would have found them out by now) but I still feel weird the first time I let my kids go over to some one's house. And I hate all the scheduling involved to get my kids to some one's house. And the phone calls. But I really don't want the kids to end up anti-social monsters...
This is the time of year where my kids' wardrobes explode. It's cool enough that they want all their winter clothes out now and yet it still warms up enough some days that they need summer stuff. My laundry has doubled in the last few weeks and I haven't found the time to sort through all their clothes to make them fit in their closets. It's simply exploded. I can't stand the clothes being this out of control.
I feel I'm so terribly behind on my sewing as well. And I know I'm really not, if I even spent an hour and knocked out a couple of pieces, I'd feel so much less overwhelmed. But I can't seem to make myself go sew. Anyone want to psycho-analysis that?
Maybe it's just Monday morning and I don't have enough caffeine in me yet...
Does anyone else feel like buying gasoline is like playing the stock market?
Is it going to go higher, should I buy now? If I wait a day, will it go lower?
Yesterday I felt like I had bought Microsoft stock in mid 80's.
$2.99 a gallon!
The last time I filled up, it was $3.72 and the time before that $4.14 (I was desperate). At those prices I can't "fill up the van", usually only buying around 23 gallons for a 30 gallon tank. My Amex limit is $100 per transaction on gas and I'm always too frustrated to run the card again for another few gallons to get to "full". Yesterday I needed 27 gallons because I kept putting it off. And I was still under the $100! I totally won the gas buying lottery!
So are you buying or waiting right now?
I have so been slacking in the sewing department. Which is really kinda bad since my business depends on me sewing...
Still undecided on the Halloween costumes. I need to nail that one down, it's 21 days away. Although my lovely inner procrastinating self says I only need 6 days. One to buy the material and then one day per costume. My inner procrastinating self is a tad insane.
I also have all the material for my new family room quilt and it's been washed and ironed and has been hanging in my craft room for 20 days now. I totally would have started it the day after my birthday but I decided I needed to finish the BKD wholesale orders first. So obviously those aren't finished either...
I guess you can say the "Sewing Procrastination Bug" has bit me really hard.
Greg and Zach are going camping with the Boy Scouts this weekend so I'm telling myself that other than the twin's soccer games (could be only 1, could be up to 4, just depends on how well they do), I have no excuse not to sew. See how I like to blame my procrastinating on Greg? I'm such a wonderful wife.
Right, right, off to chain myself to the sewing machine...
All my days are sorta blending together. Aggravating mornings, a bit of peace while the kids are in school, running around trying to get things done before the kids are home from school, homework, kids' activities, trying not to fall asleep at 9pm...
Tuesday we baked homemade chocolate chip cookies (cause nothing says "I don't want to weigh 153 pounds anymore" like homemade chocolate chip cookies) and went to the library. Which was all fine and dandy until Ally finished all 4 of her books that night and began pestering Zach for his Garfield comics and Emily for her Amelia-something-Notebook books. The issue is Ally keeps picking out simple 2nd grade level chapter books because that's what Emily is comfortable with (I'm just thrilled Em is reading!) but Ally really should bump up her level. This fight has continued through this morning.
All I really remember about yesterday was saying "if you put your stuff back where it belongs when you are done with it, you'll know where it is next time" alot. This involved lunchboxes, jackets, hair brushes, soccer shin guards, water bottles, and a Tiger Cub hat. Annoyingly enough (is annoyingly a word? It should be) all but the Tiger Cub hat were misplaced by the twins.
Which brings me to a funny topic and this is the first time ever I'm going to write about something that will totally embarrass one of my kids later in life. Ally has begun writing letters to Greg about stuff. She'll draw a cute picture on the front and then compose her letter on the back. She leaves them on his desk in his office. Greg was surprised by the letter writing but almost all of Ally's teachers have had Ally "write letters" because otherwise Ally will talk your ear off from first bell to last. I'm pretty sure she also often talks in her sleep.
The latest letter went something like this:
"Mom says my goal in life is to annoy her. It isn't. My goal in life is to be famous."
Well now that we've cleared that up...
I now weigh 153 pounds (I'm 5'3").
I am not happy.
I know I've been exercising less. As the kids are getting older, there is less running after them. No chasing toddlers, no helping them get dressed or into car seats and strollers. I'm positive all those little actions add up to a serious amount of calories burned. Hmm, maybe I should adopt a toddler...
And then I've been keeping a case of Mt. Dew in our garage fridge. We haven't had a spare fridge for years and with only one fridge, space is at a premium for a family of 7. So I'd leave the case in the pantry and put one can in the fridge each morning for lunch (or dinner if I was distracted). And since now there are always cold cans, I think I've been drinking 3 to 4 a day. That's like half of my daily calorie intake in pop alone.
I've been skipping breakfast, another big no no.
Our part of Indiana also has a better selection of restaurants compared to where we were in Maryland (or even the tiny town in Ohio). And for the most part, eating out is never considered exactly good for you.
153 pounds. I am so not happy.
I know what I'm suppose to do: exercise more, eat less. Last time I tried to lose 10 pounds (argh, I gained those back and 10 more) it took me 3 months. My body type just likes to keep the extra pounds (I come from a hardy stock of short stout women, no offense to my family, it's genetics). So at a reasonable 1 pound a week, I'll be at my target weight (133-135) at the end of February. And there's Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Girl Scout cookie season between now and then.
But I'm going to try anyways. At least trying and then trying again (and again and again) is better than throwing in the towel and letting the pounds pack on. Which is kinda what I've done for the last year.
This morning I walked for half an hour on the treadmill. I've had a cup of tea so far and will probably eat a bowl of Cheerios next. I'm going to make myself eat more fruit (I'm terrible about letting the kids eat it all instead of keeping some for myself) and buy the veggies I know I will eat. Less Mt. Dew (can't go cold turkey, I'd rather be fat than give it up at the moment). More, more, and more exercise.
Does anyone have a toddler I can borrow for a few months?
So soccer is... not over for the season yet.
The twin's team had their first game of their tournament today (one game elimination or whatever it's called) and it ended in a tie 1-1. Normally we'd call it a day and have snack but since it's the tournament, they went into a shoot out. The team with the most goals after 5 kicks by each team wins.
So of course they tied again, 2-2. Now it was serious, sudden death shoot out. The first to score without the other team scoring on the same set wins. The first two sets of kickers missed. Our team then scored. Their team didn't. We won!
(My twins were neither the goalie or the kickers at that point so I can't place any of the real glory on them. They did play an awesome quarter each as goalie, letting nothing by. Our one goal in the regular game was by someone else.)
Or is it we won... Honestly I was kinda ready for soccer to be over... Not that I'd ever say that in front of the girls, I'm not that lousy of a mom. *winks*
Oh oh, it's been 5 years!
Happy Blog Anniversary to Me!
I started way back when because I was attempting NaNoWriMo again and everyone else seemed to be blogging. (I'm such a lemming.) And then I just kinda kept going. It's almost an automatic thing now, like checking email. "Check email, blog, ignore pile of laundry swallowing the house." It's a good life.
Anyway speaking of NaNoWriMo (write a 50,000 word novel in November), this is my 6th year. I have no idea what I'm writing, just like I still have no idea what costumes I'm making for Halloween. "No ideas..." This is started to be a trend and not a very good one. Um...
Back to the anniversary, it's amazing how much has changed in 5 years. We lived in Ohio back then, Zach was in kindergarten, and Kelly was almost 1 year old. Then we went to Disney World (ha), moved to Maryland, started a business, moved to Indiana, and now Kelly is in kindergarten. My life in a nut shell.
So let's break out the cyber champagne and toast to 5 years of Ramblings. Although I'm trying not to think about the next 5 years. Because it involves Zach with a driver's license and teenagers. *shudders*
Today I signed a special paper because I didn't sign a paper yesterday.
This is totally getting out of control.
I'm sure everyone has their own little annoyances with their schools. We've had our fair share with both our old Ohio and Maryland ones. And maybe I'm getting old and grumpy but there are just some things that are not necessary to getting an education and therefore make me batty.
My latest pet peeve is the signing of papers. I have to sign Kyle's homework every day. I have to sign a stupid little paper leaf every day for each twin when they read 30 minutes. I have to sign their homework journals every day. I have to sign tests. I have to sign behavior reports, permission slips, report cards, conference time sheets... We're talking like 40 signatures a week. Dude I'm not the president or anything, I should not be writing my name this often.
I kinda understand, the teachers want to make sure the parents know what is going on. And I guess so kids don't lie about reading a book? I have no clue why I'm suppose to sign Kyle's homework. I think that's the part that annoys me the most, they don't trust the kids. Or accept that most parents do know what the heck is going on. Which is probably a problem for some but why waste the time of 95% of the other parents then? Who are probably just trying to catch up on their email between running to a million different activities and are really tired of pencils and papers being thrust in their face with "Mommy, sign this!"
I'm trying to figure out the best tactful way to refuse signing. It's just the principle of it all. I should sign report cards and permission slips and the really bad test (we had one of those, ouch). The biggest problem is that if I don't sign, the kids get in trouble at school. Ally had to "pull a straw" since I didn't sign something yesterday. And then her teacher made her write up the behavior report because of something I didn't do. (So wrong!) Trust me, it was not an important signature either, I think it was the daily homework journal again.
Maybe I should order a stamp with my signature? I'd teach them to forge my name but that would probably lead to trouble later down the line...
Happy October!
No, I don't have the Halloween costumes figured out yet. (previous years) I don't even have today's To Do list written out. And it's going to be one of those crappy ones with all the little annoying stuff you try to avoid as long as possible. I'm thinking about scrubbing toliets instead.
Oh shoot, I just realized I booked two things in one weekend. October is turning out to be not such a pretty month schedule wise and it's only the 1st. *sigh*
Quote of the Day: "Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment." -Robert Benchley
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