Halloween and, oh yeah, I'm outta here!

Thought I'd show you some pictures of the Halloween costume. I got to test-run it at a Halloween-themed class the other day which, by the way, was some of the best fun I've had as an instructor. I got to teach with two other great girls, and we had a blast!

Didja notice the excellent purple dreads?





Leg warmers!!



Spider ring! Actually, this I don't have anymore; it looked better on my sister so I gave it to her. Forgot to mention it might turn her finger green...



Too much makeup. Cuz, y'know, what's Halloween without makeup?!



LOVE my armwarmers, and the funky bracelets. The big joke that day was whether this was really a Halloween costume, since I'm frequently seen wearing this stuff anyway...



Another shot of the armwarmers, just so you could see my skirt. That skirt! Got me in a lot of trouble with the hubby, what with how much I spent on it...and the frilly purple hotpants underneath--Darn you, Hot Topic!--but I have a feeling he'll get over it the next time we go out and I wear it for him, with fishnets, as opposed to more-Zumba-appropriate leggings. :)

So I'm sorry I haven't been in but what with convention coming, and throwing the girls a Halloween party and reading the Twilight series (I just need the last one! kind of like an alkie needs a drink...I know it's so bad but it's so good! LOL) and trying to buy a house which? OMG! is totally nerve-wracking...I just haven't been here.

But! I'll have lots to talk about after Convention, maybe even, like, the bank accepted our offer while I was in Florida...? maybe?

Holy freakin cow, I suck at NaBloPoMo. It's been a week since I posted! Oh well, it's still more than I usually post, right?

Now...what was it I came here to write about?

Um...

Hey, do you get a lot of catalogs in the mail this time of year? I swear, from October to March we must get like 20 a day. First it's "Buy me for Christmas!" Then it's "Buy me while I'm sale! Get your Christmas shopping done early!!" And rather than giving me good ideas on what to buy other people, they only seem to make my own wishlist bigger. ;)

Eeesh.

I'm thinking of drawing our Christmas cards this year. Just a thought, not sure exactly whether or how I'd do it. We usually do picture cards, but I figure we could just get pictures printed and stick them in the cards. The only thing is it is so EASY to get the picture cards--you just tell them what picture, what design, and what you want printed on the cards so you don't even have to sign them! Which is good, y'know, when you have like 200 cards to send. How the heck do we even know this many people?!

Our wedding anniversary was this week. Sadly, I had to work that night, but we're having a little mini-date here at home tomorrow night after my Zumba class to toast our eight happy years together. Awww. :)

Then there were those 12 miserable years together.... kidding, kidding.

Hey, so, I've pretty much given up on my NaNoWriMo novel for now, unless by some miracle I get an uninterrupted week straight in which to write. And let's face it, that's not happening. I do have several good ideas, though, so I might have my own little novel writing month in, like, February or something, when it's too cold and cloudy and depressing outside to do anything else. That was my friend Lynda's idea, so when I'm a famous novelist one day, I can dedicate it all to her. ;)

Speaking of novels, and catalogs that give me more ideas for my own wishlist, I'm staring at one catalog listing for a shirt that says, "Careful, or you'll end up in my novel." Hehe, I like that.

Oh, I know what I wanted to show you. If you're a fan of Harry Potter, and we all know I am, you'll love this:



I laughed so hard I thought I'd pee. Even the second time.

OK, I'm off now.

Just some random things I'm pulling together and calling a post:

• It's raining really hard. I just went to drop Devy off at the bus stop and got soaked. It reminds me of when I worked at the local renaissance faire (shut up, like you didn't know I was a dork by now!). When it rained like this, there would be puddles everywhere. But the ground was covered in wood chips, so unlike normal puddles, these puddles would have wood chips floating in them. So you wouldn't know there was a puddle there until you--whoops!--found it the hard way.
• Bek is quite the escape artist lately with regards to her clothes. You put her in for a nap and before you know it, poof! Two seconds later you check on her and she is completely buck naked, the diaper is on the floor, and she's sleeping in a puddle of pee. She has to wear footy pajamas all the time so we can safety-pin them together so she can't unzip 'em. And even then she manages to get them seriously wrenched out of whack.
• I just picked up this free "parenting magazine" from the rack at the supermarket. At first I was like, "Oh, nice, it is extolling the benefits of keeping your child from getting too overscheduled. How lovely." But then you turn to the back of the magazine and there are, like, a bazillion ads for ways to overschedule your child. And the article on balancing family time and work time is nicely balanced by tons of ads on how to buy back your kids' affection with crazy toys, parties that will one-up the neighbors', and of course, ads for the perfect preschool or private school, so as to assuage your guilt at not being home with the kids by sending them to the very best of everything. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a big advocate of unity between moms of all working arrangements. You should do what works for you and your family. But if guilt is a major factor in your family life? Then somethin aint workin.
• The childwatch at the Y I teach for just had a case of MRSA Staph diagnosed in one of the kids. Now, part of me is like, "Aw, poor thing, he's OK now, right?" (Apparently he is.) The other part of me is all, "Decon! Decon!! We aren't going back there until the whole place is dipped in antibacterial hand sanitzer! Aaaarrhh!" So now I'm analyzing my poor kids to death. Every mole, pimple, cut, and bump are scrutinized to pieces before anyone is allowed to go anywhere. Grr stupid Staph infections.
  
• Lessons in reading the label: I bought this baby bath wash by Johnson's. It's called Johnson's Naturals, or something like that, and it comes in soothing green packaging. But...I read the ingredients list. Now, I may have only barely passed Chemistry 101 in high school, but I'm pretty sure the only things on this list that were natural were water and olive oil. Or olive butter. Whatever it was. And I just made myself lunch, and OK, I'm trying to cut down on the sugar so I made myself a turkey, cheese, and pickle sandwich with some Polar Seltzer to wash it down. The pickles? Tons of sugar. And the Polar? Not seltzer at all, but soda with high fructose corn syrup. I'm so smart. :P Of course, we won't even go into what...um, goes into...my beloved International Delights seasonal flavored coffee creamers. Because they are necessary. Much like water. Or, air.
  

Now if you'll excuse me, this kind of rainy crappy fall day is my favorite kind of day for sitting in a comfy chair by a window, with a snack and a book. Kind of like this:

• 

(I don't want to brag or nuthin. But, she's 5. And she's reading a chapter book.)
(Either that or she's just checking out the pictures.)

nanowrimo: day 2

So, it's NaNoWriMo day two. I really really wish I could tell you that my novel is off to a great start.

I really wish I could tell you it was off to any kind of start.

But...I haven't written a single word. I haven't even opened a new Word document. I don't even know what I'm writing about. I wish I could take the novel I started last year, the one I had to abandon when my computer crashed. I really like that one, and I would love to finish it. But that would be cheating.

Maybe I could just wait until day 11 or so--that's when the laptop died last year--and take up my last year's novel from then.

Maybe?

Nah, still cheating. Tempting, but cheating.

This is the third year I have done NaNoWriMo. The first year I was newly pregnant with Bek and spent most of November sleeping. The second year--well, you know. So this year I am determined to finish my 50,000-word novel, if it kills me.

And considering the fact that each November the housework goes undone for a month, if the writing doesn't kill me? The husband will. ;)

I just have to stop thinking about how great last year's start was. It's hindering my efforts to brainstorm something new. Hm. OK, tonight, at work, I'm going to put a serious effort toward putting down some starting notes. Then I'm going to get myself jumped up on caffeine and come home and start typing.

I need some good writing music. Zumba music? The theme from Rocky? The Notre Dame fight song? Maybe some Dropkick Murphys.

That part would be a lot easier to put together if I hadn't promised to not steal music. Grr.

So anyway, yes. Tonight. I will write. I'm supposed to write 1,667 words a day to make 50,000 by the end of the month. Today is day two. So that's what? 3334 words by the time I go to bed tonight.

Erg.

I told hubby we should have bought new furniture this year!!!

(Go Sox!!! I knew you could do it.)

pretty pretty links

Hi, remember me!

OK, first thing's first. I would like to say:

GO SOX!!!

ok, got that out of my system. ;)

Hm...what else to write about? I've been kind of in a funk lately, which is why you haven't heard from me. I don't know what it is--I love fall, it is my very favorite time of year--but I think I am just overwhelmed, trying to juggle everything. So what better way than to deal with everything but to stay in bed late, not leave the house, and only shower when the kids complain?

OK, OK, kidding. I do try to shower once a week, at least. ;)

No really though--I've taken on too much stuff and I can't keep all these balls in the air. Got to learn to say no! And a several of my "things" keep me in close working relationship with people I don't like very much, which is stressful. Grr.

What I need is to get off my behind. Get organized. Get de-cluttered. Clean my dang house. I can't drop any of the balls neatly until the end of the school year so I just have to keep up and, God help me, not say yes to any-freaking-thing else. Haha, which is kind of funny since I'm looking to add some more Zumba classes to my schedule. I tell myself that doesn't count because I love my Zumba classes but let's face it--it's still more stuff. But I know from experience that trying to juggle in a cluttered, messy, energy-sapping environment is a lot harder than doing it in a peaceful zen garden.

Not that I have one of those.

But I could clean my dang house.

So tonight, after work (which I will not stress about or be grumpy for, even though I am not supposed to work on Thursdays because I teach Zumba on Thursdays and had to get someone to fill in for my class tonight) I will go to the store and buy myself some soy milk. I will come home and make myself a yummy soy pumpkin spice latte in a very very cute Starbucks halloween mug, and I will dig in to my house. Tonight: the kitchen and dining room. Tomorrow: the mess that has swallowed my desk. Early Saturday morning: the bathroom.

And so help me if I come home from working all weekend and my hard work is puked all over. That is the worst part of trying to clean! I come home after working so hard at home and working so hard at the j-o-b and stuff is tossed on my desk, dishes are sitting in the sink, toothpaste is all inside the bathroom sink and the last person to go didn't flush... Things like that are what get me so funk-y and down and then I don't do anything until it builds up so I don't know where to start so I don't do anything so it builds up so I get funk-y...

Fortunately I have some secret weapons. Or, y'know, not so secret:

1. Loud Zumba music.
   
2. an MP3 player for when loud music is not an option
3. yummy-smelling cleaning products
   
4. fresh air--I open the windows, even if it's 45 degrees out. It's SOOOO good, dontcha think?!

And I am going to throw things away.

Oh yes.

If we don't use it, out it goes. Maybe I'll find some things for ebay. Or freecycle. Or Big Sister Big Brother. But it's going. Dave Ramsey, the financial guy we follow, says to sell everythinig that isn't nailed down until the kids are afraid they're next. :) Well, the kids probably don't have to worry--we're kind of attached to them--but they'd better hide their favorite toys cuz Mama's on a rampage.

And then? When I'm finally done cleaning for the night? I'm going to work on ideas for my nanowrimo novel. Because I will finish this year, dammit. Provided my overworked, underpaid laptop doesn't bust down like last year.

So that's tonight. I'll probably be up forever but if it gets me ahead? Even a little? It's worth it. I just hope I don't get sucked into watching the Sox beat the crap out of the Rockies play because if I let myself sit down to watch it, I'll never get up again.

I'm in geek heaven because November 1 (which is only 16 days away, people!) marks the start of NaNoWriMo, or, National Novel Writing Month.

For those of you not in the know, NaNoWriMo is an opportunity for literary-minded people to write a 50,000-word novel. So those of you who have always said, "One day...one day I'll write a novel!" can now put an end to the "one days".

The writing is fast-paced and crazy, which is great for people (like me) who tend to over-analyze to death the stuff they've written. See, when you only have a month to finish your novel (that's 1667 words a day, people!) you don't have time to sit back and criticize yourself!

So pick up a pen and a ream of paper, or set up your computer somewhere where there is easy access to the coffee maker and the bathroom. Lock the door. Count down to 12:00:01am, November 1 and start writing until your hands hurt.

Then meet me at the local coffeeshop. Preferably one with free wifi. For, you know, email breaks.

I'll be the redhead with the laptop, the huge coffee cup and the bags under her eyes.

some random observations from the tragically unhip household

1. It doesn't matter how many Zumba routines, kids' birthdays, song lyrics, gossip details, or job prodcedures I can memorize--if it is a dentist appointment, I will forget it.
2. The fake cobwebs we put up for Halloween are competing with the ones the spiders left...and losing.
3. It doesn't matter how long or hard I clean the house all week long--after a weekend of me working and the rest of the family home, it will just look like it did before.
4. Just because a diaper is cheap doesn't mean you should buy it. In fact, diapers are one of those things you should really splurge on. Unless, y'know, you like cleaning up that kind of stuff. Freak.
5. Babies can't digest corn.
6. Goldfish crackers make good last-minute coating for homemade chicken nuggets.
7. I feel guilty spending $30 on fuzzy warm boots I will wear all fall and winter, but it's way easy to spend the same amount on a Halloween costume my kid will wear once for about two hours.
8. I seriously need to hire some 12-year-old kid to teach me how to use my new cell phone. Seriously. How the heck do I text someone? Get my pictures from my phone to my computer? Change my voicemail message? Anyone??!

Craziness!

School is back in session, which means the Tragically Unhip household has been inundated with paperwork.

Cuz, y'know, it just wouldn't be school if they weren't sending home requests for volunteers for the school parent association (gag me), the library, the computer room, the school fair, the school store, the fundraisers, and the school walk; reminders to send payments for school lunches, school pictures, book fairs, and student magazine subscriptions (for which the teachers sign up the kids and then demand payment from the parents); memos on a thousand different school policies, and on and on.

Then, for parents stupid enough to provide their telephone numbers, there are the twice or three-times-weekly prerecorded telephone calls reminding parents of upcoming events. The upcoming events that we are also reminded of in the weekly emails we so foolishly provided addresses for.

When, exactly, do I start to just send my kid off to school without worrying about the homework she's going to bring me ?!

And now that two of the girls are in school, it's all doubled.

Sometimes I think those homeschoolers have got something.

Then the coffee kicks in. ;)

In other news...this weekend I am going away on my sweet, sweet annual women's retreat. Roughly 48 hours of no kids, no hubby, no chores, no diapers, no work...and I get to see my good friend Connie who, incidentally, I met on the retreat my first time there three years ago.

We always have such a great time--especially playing volleybally until the wee hours of the morning. Connie usually whoops my behind. I'm not too athletically inclined. ;) And there's crafts, a rifle range, archery, pedicures, quiet time, a talent show of some sort, and all the coffee and hot cocoa I can drink. All in the very beautiful mountain lakeside scenery of upstate New England in the fall.

Can't wait!!

colors of fall

Signs that I am not ready to send the kids back to school:

1. I'm bothering to blog about it.
2. I still haven't bought school snacks because looking at anyting vaguely back-to-school related makes me all teary.
3. I'm pouting as I write this.
4. I refuse to go to sleep because when I wake up it will be one day closer to back-to-school and don't bother trying any of that "It's coming regardless of whether you sleep" logic crap.
5. There are large amounts of things not normally found in the Tragically Unhip household such as Pop Tarts (which suddenly come in delish ice-cream-y flavors like mint chocolate chip and cookie dough) and expensive sugary brand-name cereals and Oreos and five cartons of ice cream (although one is actually a box of ice cream pops, so there) partly because I want to give my children special treats--and we don't usually use food as reward around here, not healthy, don'tcha know--and partially (OK, mostly) because I'm all emotional and eat-y.

It isn't usually like this. Usually, by the second week of August I'm all, "Someone call the school! They've got to open early! Get these kids out of my house!!!" But this year I'm just not ready. I don't want my babies to leave me!!

Why? Well, I think there are a few things. For one, we had a great, fun summer. Last summer Bek was a little baby and I was overwhelmed and PPD and we didn't really do much or go anywhere or see anyone. This summer she's older, I'm healthy, we did lots of fun stuff, and I don't want it to end.

For another thing, this is the first year that Devy is going to school. She was my baby for four years before Bek was born, and now she's all...big. She's reading and writing and conversing and getting independent and where she used to be a little fraidy-girl princess, she's now braver and stronger and more sure of herself. And I put her hair up for the first time (ever!) today and I swear she looked 7, not 5. Not my baby.

...hold on...there I go...gimme a second...

OK.

And Jo, the oldest. She's 8. She's so great. I love talking to her, and she's not a little girl anymore. She's still young, of course, but you can see the young woman she's going to be. She's matured so much.

I am so, so thankful I get to stay home during the day to be with my babies before they're off to school. Cuz once they go to school it's like you're no longer their primary influence. Their number one concern is no longer whether they're pleasing you. The whole world comes into play. And it's wonderful, and I'm thankful that I can give our girls a solid foundation from which to launch them. It just stinks because sometimes it feels like that's it for me. I've done my job and now, because I work nights and weekends and don't get to spend much time with Jo during the school year, I have to release her to daddy and the rest of the world. Good thing hubby's there--what would I do otherwise?

Oh, the melodrama. I just had to get it off my chest. :)

Now I can concentrate on all the good things about school starting...like FALL!! My favorite season!! And pumpkins, ooh, and pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, and sweaters, and tights, and boots, and crunchy leaves, and the smell of fires burning, and HALLOWEEN! and crisp apples and apple picking! and cider and hay rides and haunted houses and hot cocoa... I love fall! Fall fall fall, fall fall fall...