Happy Halloween!

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect night for trick-or-treating. It was warm enough that the kids (and I) didn't freeze, but cool enough that they were comfortable in their costumes. Our neighborhood was an awesome place to trick-or-treat! They more than filled their pumpkin buckets in the few cul-de-sacs around our house. Everyone was really nice and of course, their costumes were a big hit. Especially Perrin's. I guess all that work was worth it.

Perrin got pretty worn out with all the walking and wanted to be carried toward the end, but it was getting late by then. He was so funny to watch when he was walking, though. He looked adorable. His costume looks so top-heavy, but it isn't. It's all fluff. He didn't want to take it off when we were done!

Both the kids have been stuffing their faces with candy all day and I know I should stop them. I'm just not looking forward to the battle that will surely ensue. I want it to be gone quickly, but not at the expense of their health. Besides, it's not as if I WANT to be cleaning up chocolate puke from my new carpet. I guess this is what's meant by picking your battles.

Lots of Pics


I haven't been writing much lately because, in the spirit of Halloween, I've been a real witch. I knew my writing would reflect that, and who wants to read anything like that? I'm still not quite myself (or maybe I AM myself and this is just the way I am), but I'm not so bad as I've been.


I should probably post a couple of pics from our annual pumpkin farm trip. It's something I look forward to all year, but this year, the kids were pains in the you-know-what about letting me take pictures. I usually take over a hundred pictures, but not this year. Usually, I have trouble deciding between the best ones. This year, it's more like deciding which are the least disappointing. Oh, well. What can you do?

I've also been trying to get ready for Halloween. Heath and I went to a costume party at Will & Betsy's last Friday. It was fun. Plus, it was a nice change to hang out with other adults. Betsy wore a naughty nurse costume, so I wore a naughty Red Riding Hood so we could share that our skirts didn't cover much. Although, I wish I had her tan from Jamaica. (Maybe we'll have a honeymoon, too someday.)

Will's costume didn't leave much to the imagination, either, which is wrong on so many levels I'm not even going to BEGIN to describe them. The picture speaks for itself.

Thankfully, I was the only one with a camera so there are no pictures of me. Disappointing, right? Not for me!
Beggar's Night is tomorrow, so I'll probably have pictures of the kid's in their costumes up soon. It's taken me three days to make Perrin's monster costume. It's awesome, but there's fur all over the house. Guess it's a good thing Heath bought me that Dyson.

R.I.P. Falcore


Today was a sad day. Our dear fish, Falcore, has ceased to swim any longer. I don't know for certain how old he was, but we had him for over two years. I know fish don't live forever, but it was still sad to see him go.

Everyone else always said he was ugly, but I never thought so. He wasn't the typical gaudy red or bright blue of more popular betas, but that's why I liked him. He was kind of a misfit. He liked me better than everyone else. If I put just the tip of my finger into his bowl, he'd swim up and "kiss" it. (Go ahead and tell me he was just looking for food. See if I care.) He'd start swimming faster in his bowl when he'd hear my voice, too. (Again, maybe it's because I always fed him, but so what?) I'm going to miss the little guy. Even if he was "just a fish".

I refused to flush him down the toilet after all he'd endured in his long (for a fish) life. It seemed wrong (even if it WAS a watery end) so I buried him by some of my flowers. I don't know if I'll get another fish soon or not. That seems kind of wrong, too. We'll see how things go. Rest in peace, Falcore.

Walking With Dinosaurs

We took the kids to see "Walking With Dinosaurs" at a local events center this past weekend. We bought the tickets months ago and, surprisingly, I didn't lose them. (A good thing, too, at $35 a ticket. Even for Perrin!) I prepped the kids by showing them clips of the show online. I didn't want them to be freaked out by the whole thing and start crying. I knew Abby would be fine, but with Perrin, you just never know. He's sensitive about things sometimes. I told him it would be loud and the dinosaurs would be really big, but that Daddy would beat them up if they tried to hurt us. (Maybe not the best thing to say, but parenting is a trial-and-error thing.)

Turns out, I needn't have worried. They weren't scared at all. Perrin plugged his ears once when the T-Rex was roaring, but that was it. He even asked me if we could watch MORE dinosaurs! Who could blame him? They were awesome! I know it's dumb, but even I almost forgot they were fake sometimes. Especially if you were looking at their faces. The people who built them did a phenomenal job and the details were incredible. I think the only thing missing was hot, stinky breath, and we were sitting close enough to have felt it if there had been! Maybe they'll add that for next time. Even though it was expensive, I would absolutely go again.

I took some video of the show on my camera, but as they frown upon you doing so, I'm not going to post it. (I only took it for the kids to watch later anyway.) They have a couple of videos on their website (http://www.dinosaurlive.com/) that show how they made them and what the show is like. YouTube is littered with illegal clips, too. I'm not going to add mine. I probably got enough bad juju just from taking them in the first place.

The next day, we went to the apple orchard again. I even remembered to put batteries in the camera this time. The kids had fun watching the honey bees land on their apples. I had to teach them to be still and not swat at the bees or try to touch them. After that, they did fine. At one time, Abby had three bees on her apple. Now that we have apples, I guess that means I have to bake. It's that time of year again. Apple pie, then pumpkin cookies, then all the Christmas goodies.

I've actually got plans to go out on Monday, too. Pandora (I've mentioned them in a previous post.) is having a get-together at the 4th Street Theatre downtown. It sounds like it'll be fun, plus, it's right next to Java Joe's and I can't remember the last time I was there. High school maybe? Somehow, you just can't take kids to a coffee house. I used to love them, though. (Coffee houses, I mean. I'll ALWAYS love my kids. Even when I don't like them much.) Maybe I'll get to stop in. A little "me" time might be nice.

Post #80


Why do you read this? Do you wait for me to divulge secrets that I can't actually speak, or are my everyday rantings really that intellectually stimulating? Neither, right? That's what I figured. I've written eighty of these things now and I've still no idea what purpose it serves. I'm not supporting a cause or changing the world. I mean, I recycle and take reusable bags to the grocery store, but the cloth diapers didn't last long. (Maybe I should take another look at that as a way to goad me into potty-training Perrin...) Why do you care what I think? Why do I care what I think?

I spend entirely too much time thinking. Especially when I'm still. I'm back to taking sleeping pills at night. The OTC kind though, not the Trazodone. It's the only way I can make my mind stop running in circles. That or alcohol, but who wants a hangover? I try to read until I feel like I can't keep my eyes open, but as soon as I close my eyes to sleep, my brain really acts up. I've always been a night person, but I can't be nocturnal. It's just not practical. I guess, Wal-Mart is open all night, but not much else is. Plus, I have the kids to think about. If I keep them up all night, pretty soon they'll be wanting to sleep upside down, too.

So what do I think about when I can't sleep? Now there's a question for the ages. What DON'T I think about? I wish there was a way to plug my brain into a printer that could just print out all the thoughts as the came and after an hour or so, I could unplug myself and sort through the printed thoughts. I could sort them into groups that made sense and get them all organized so I could stop them running about inside my head. Wouldn't that be nice. Especially if I could plug it into other people's brains, as well. For now, I'll just have to keep leaking random thoughts onto this blog as I feel the need.