Archive for October, 2009
Quick Giggle
Posted by: | CommentsJust now, the kids were on the couch playing with the dog. Becca put on her best movie announcer voice and said “Where the Wild Dogs Are.” Then, in unison, Becca and Chloe said “rated PG.”
They crack me up.
Rex had his first appointment at the groomer yesterday. Thank God it’s just over the hill, because he was able to get through the car ride without any puke. The ladies there all loved him, and he smells nice and pretty, his nails are trimmed and he’s soft. Here’s the wild thing right here:
Halloween Horrors
Posted by: | CommentsIf I haven’t mentioned it before, I love Halloween. And if I have mentioned it before, it’s worth saying again. I’m not a big Christmas girl. But Halloween? I’ve always loved it. Growing up, I loved being scared, I loved figuring out what my costume was going to be and I loved, loved, loved trick-or-treating. I would push my mental and physical limits to hit as many homes as I possibly could. And trick-or-treating the city streets of Pittsburgh involved many, many hills. My calves would be sore, but I’d have a bag full o’ loot.
As an adult, I still enjoy Halloween. But it sure has changed. First off, it’s changed for the kids. In my neighborhood growing up, we had a parade which was then followed by trick-or-treat. Although it was a bit unconventional…we did our trick-or-treating on the Saturday before Halloween, in the afternoon. ( I think it officially went from 3:00-5:00). One day, one shot. We would hit a haunted house some time in October, and we may have had a party at school.
Halloween now starts at the end of September. I have to admit, we had our Halloween decorations up the third week of September. We have treat bags for everybody at school. Each child has a Halloween parade at school. And there’s the neighborhood parade. And there’s a pumpkin walk on our walking trail nearby. Trick or treat at the mall, trick or treat at the hospital (um, not this year…thanks H1N1). Hell, going to the Halloween store is almost as good as taking the kids to a haunted house. Even the isles at Wal-mart and Target entertain the kids. We have Halloween pencils, Halloween erasers, Halloween shirts and socks.
I actually get to go to a GROWN UP Halloween party this year. Costume? Um, I’ll figure something out that day. Trick-or-treating? I’m just hoping that it doesn’t rain…we did that one year…it wasn’t pretty. Seeing that I’m pushing 40, on old people medication and get a buzz off of two drinks, my bright eyed child-like view of Halloween has just about vanished. Although I still enjoy the scary stuff (and the campy stuff), I’m too worried about making the entire month of October chock full of Halloween fun for the kids.
Being responsible can sort of suck. Until I see them watching Goosebumps, peeking out from under blankets. And when it’s over, they ask for more.
Hee, hee. I’ve gotten them all wrapped up in the Halloween crap. They love it. And maybe when I have grandkids I’ll get to just ENJOY it instead of PLANNING it.
See? There is life after 40.
Healthy, Healthy, Healthy
Posted by: | CommentsWell, now that I’m all grown up and stuff (don’t I sound sophisticated?), I’ve figured out that I’m not invincible, and I need to start dealing with my health a bit.
First off, I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because I’ve had some pain in my knees. Nothing major, but a constantly there, dull sort of pain. For about two or three months. Well, it was time to shit or get off the pot. The doc did a physical exam of my knees, didn’t seem to see anything major wrong, ordered blood tests (for some crazy stuff) and some x-rays. As he was ordering the blood tests, he saw that the last time I had my cholesterol checked, it was on the high side. Not ‘officially’ high, but pushing it. So, he decided to run a cholesterol test, too. I haven’t gone to get the x-rays yet, and the blood tests all came back fine…except for the cholesterol.
So, the day after I went to the doctor, I’m all of a sudden on medicine for my cholesterol, and glucosamine/chondrointin for my knees. ::sigh::
I figured that since I had gotten this big health ball rolling, I may as well keep on going. So yesterday I started with nicotine gum.
I love smoking. I am not only physically addicted, but after 24 years it feels like it is a serious part of me. My brother recently quit, and he used a combination of the patch and Quest low nicotine cigarettes. I thought that the gum would be enough, but today I went and got the Quest smokes, too. I’ve tried this before, and I’m hoping this time it goes a little more smoothly. Now, if the world were perfect, I could just lock myself in my bedroom for a week and stay curled in the fetal position while I detoxed. However, that’s not the case. I still have to clean, take care of kids, and work. And to do all of that I need coffee. And quitting the whole cigarette/coffee combination will be the hardest. I’m hoping that this Quest cigarette thing helps me out with this part.
So, I’ll keep you updated. Even if I’m doing horribly. Yesterday? I lived on just three pieces of nicotine gum. Today? Also three pieces of nicotine gum, a stolen cigarette at 9 am from my sister-in-law, and two Quest cigarettes this afternoon (mostly to try them out).
Today? We’re headed outdoors to enjoy the Indian Summer (and the lady beetles – ewwww). About nine or ten neighborhood kids, along with 3 or 4 moms (actually, there may be a dad in there).
So, happy day!!!!!
It's the Little Distractions
Posted by: | CommentsYou know, it’s getting a lot easier to work with my kids at home. Well, with one kid at home most of the time, because the other one is at school. But even when they’re both here, they’ve figured out that I’m old and boring. They entertain themselves by playing school, or Spongebob, or Scooby Doo. They’ve even been letting me sleep in on the weekends! I tried a little experiment last week. I told them that they weren’t supposed to come into my bedroom until the clock said “eight, zero, zero.” Last weekend was sort of a bust. They were in my room at least ten times between seven and eight o’clock.
BUT, this weekend was an entirely different story. On Saturday, Becca strolled into my room and said “Mom, I forgot to watch the clock and now it says eight-three-three.” Bonus. Now the rules are that they have to stay upstairs and play in one or the other’s room. Today Becca walked in and announced it was eight-zero-one. Fine, I’ll take that!
So, I’m getting sleep, the kids are entertaining themselves, but I’m still having some problems finishing my to-do list. It’s all because of one word.
Facebook.
I’ve really enjoyed getting back in touch with old friends and school mates. But I find myself doing things like…
playing Bejeweled Blitz. It’s really quite addictive. And I’m pretty darn good at it. But here’s the problem. I start playing it, and all of a sudden it’s an hour later. And I’m wondering why my butt is numb.
Today, I wasted some time over at JibJab. A friend of mine made a little video of her family, so I decided to do the same thing. Here are the end results:
That killed about a half an hour or so. But it DID make the kids giggle….so I guess it was all worth it 
I <3 Technology!
Posted by: | CommentsYou know, having these two small children, I really haven’t had a lot of time to watch movies. Well, I take that back. I haven’t had a lot of time to watch moves rated PG-13 or higher. I’ve seen lots of Mosters, Inc, Scooby Doo, Ice Age, and our latest trip to the theater? Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was cute.
Anyway, this past weekend, I got to catch up on some movies. Now, seeing that a couple of weeks ago I stayed up to watch Ryan Reynolds on Saturday Night Live and DID NOT GET TO SEE HIS ABS, I needed to see some abs. I figured that I would stick with Ryan Reynolds, and watch a movie that I had seen before…Waiting. First of all, if you have ever worked in a restaurant, you NEED to see this movie. The only character that is missing is the gay guy. This movie is very true to life, and completely hysterical. If you’ve never worked in a restaurant, you just won’t get it. Really. The best thing about watching this movie (aside from the quick shot of Ryan’s abs)? I watched it on my iPhone. Completely cool. The girls were in the tub, I was watching the movie. I watched while I was vacuuming. I watched while they were watching iCarly in bed (I just had to throw out a “Spencer is so funny!” every once in a while).
Renting a movie on my phone was super awesome. The next time I’m somewhere (like jury duty, or the doctor’s waiting room) I’m gettin’ me a movie.
Later that night, I decided to stay up and watch Drew Barrymore on SNL. I have this habit of flipping through the channels during the musical act. Well, I found that Marley and Me was just starting on HBO. Two hours and a box of kleenex later, I just wanted to hug my dog, my kids and my husband. I know there were mixed reviews on this movie, but I think it really showed what normal life is like. Crazy, unpredictable and full of love.
Sunday night Tony and I were home together. After the kids went to bed, we had the energy to stay up for a movie. We decided on The Haunting in Connecticut. Tony was sucked in because it was based on a true story. I was up for being scared, because Halloween is right around the corner, you know!
I liked this movie, but it wasn’t fantastic. After poking around on the web, I found out that the ‘true story’ wasn’t really all that true. But, I still jumped a few times, and going into my bathroom in the dark five minutes after the movie was over was a little creepy. The creepiness went away after about fifteen minutes, though.
So, how about that? I saw three movies in one weekend. Prior to that weekend, I was watching a ‘grown up’ movie about every three to six months. I love that the kids are getting old enough to deal, sleep in their own bed all night (usually), and play practical jokes on me
