And still more Halloween

The boys do NOT like being locked up in the playroom!

More Halloween

OK, apparently if I can't decorate, I can still blog...


So, Peter and his friend Mia just showed up at my house. First of all, I can't believe they're old enough to be trick-or-treating on their own. And they're both SO excited about it!

Secondly, I nearly didn't recognize Mia -- she's gotten really tall, and really grown up looking.

Thirdly, I have such a good son. I was offloading his candy, because he has a small little pumpkin, and some other kids came up, so he immediately jumped into candy-giver-outer mode! Yay, Peter!

Starting Early This Year

... or, the saddest Halloween ever.

Well, I've already cracked open the port and am digging into the chocolate, and it's not even 7pm.

Usually at this time I'm finishing off costumes and figuring out how to take my kids around the neighborhood, having spent all day decorating.

Not this year. Between infections, surgery, and resistant (or recurrent) infections, I am just wiped. For the first time in a LONG time, I haven't decorated for Halloween.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Not even a jack-o-lantern.

It's sad, but oddly peaceful; I'm alone in the house (Jeff is taking Grace and a friend through the neighborhood, and Peter is off on his first solo Halloween run), I get to see all the trick or treaters (and they ARE a hoot -- a Princess just exclaimed, "OOOH, that's a lot!!!"), and, as I said, I've already cracked open the port!

But I'm looking forward to being well next year!

The benefits of being friends

So, I understand not every marriage that ends can end amicably. And, quite frankly, if my ex had been a different person, ours might not have. But he's a good guy, and (at least partially because we have kids), it's been in our best interests to remain friendly.

And, boy oh boy, was I glad tonight!

I had told Kathy I would drive her out to the airport to pick up Adrianne's car (LONG story, don't ask) while my kids were at choir. No biggie, we got there, got the car, and headed back towards Chapel Hill.

I had been planning on getting gas as I got off the highway, because I was quite low, but I wanted to go as long as I could because I was also tight on time.

Well, I pushed it too far, and ran out of gas as I was exiting the highway. Luckily Kathy was behind me, and was able to pick me up so that I could get my kids (only a few minutes late).

And even more luckily, I was only a few miles from Jeff's house, AND he has a gas-powered lawn mower!

So, once I had the kids, Kathy drove me back to my car, and Jeff was able to meet me with his gas can and get me enough to get to a gas station.

MUCH easier than calling AAA!

OMG! Nuff said!

The Boys' latest trick

I think that Jack and Dusty have been watching Spike during the day when I'm at work, and have gotten into Ultimate Cage Fighting.

Last night, I was in bed reading and I kept hearing thumps and bumps and swishy-cat sounds from my bathroom.

Figuring I'd better see what they were up to so I could put an end to it and get some sleep, I went in.

And discovered that their new favorite place to play is my bathtub.

Where they wrestle each other.

So, yeah, the bumps and slides and shuffles were the sounds of two LARGE cats flopping around in my garden tub!

Silly boys

Well, that went fast....

Seems like the last week has gone by in a blink; I'm usually pretty good about blogging every day or two (or every hour or two), but when I got on tonight, I hadn't blogged since last Tuesday. Yikes!

So, what's been up in my life?

Well, got a cold 2 or 3 weeks ago. By last weekend it had turned into a sinus infection (or some infection, at this point I don't really care what type). Massive stress on my part, as I was scheduled to have my left cheek sinus operated on on Friday (the 24th).

I don't like to take extra time off of work if I know I'm going to be out, but I was miserable, so wound up taking last Monday and Tuesday off. Wednesday went to work, Wednesday night came home and discovered....

... My heat pump wasn't working. Called a guy, he said he'd come out Thursday morning.

Thursday I'm at home again the kids go off to school; the heat pump guy comes, turns out my heat pump is shot. Yut. As the heat pump guy (who's name is Rodney and is WONDERFUL) is trying to find out how quickly he can get me a new one, the school nurse calls; Peter's got a migraine. Or a sinus headache, unsure.

So, the Rodney-the-Heat-Pump guy says he can get a heat pump in Friday, no I don't have to be home, it's all good. I go to get Peter, and finish the day working from home. Incidentally, the school nurse called AFTER school, too -- Grace got itchy eyes at Drum Line practice. Sheesh.

Needless to say, there was no cooking in my house Thursday. I don't even remember WHAT we ate, though I think it might've had veggies in it somewhere...Oh, wait, I remember, we went to Boston Market, and my Grand-Boss called me in the middle of dinner to do MORE work (I'd started at about 6:30 am...).

Friday Kathy got to my house at 7 to stay with the kids till the bus came, David got there at 7 to take me to surgery...

... and Peter was still sick (poor boy, he really felt horrible). So, Kathy said she'd get him to his Dad, so off I went.

The surgery actually went well -- I must say I've never been asked my birthday, if I had drug allergies, or what they were doing to me quite so many times! But, it was (from my perspective) pretty easy, then I came home and slept pretty much the entire day. I did rouse myself around 5 or so for some dinner, then sacked out again pretty early and slept late Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty much lazy days -- the kids were with their Dad; Peter was supposed to have a Cub Scout campout this weekend to finish up the last activity pins he needs for Arrow of Light; luckily (sort of) there was rain Friday night, so the campout was postponed till Saturday noon-ish, so he was able to rest up Friday (he slept NEARLY as much as me!) and still go on Saturday.

And, Carolina won Saturday, and the Panthers won today, and my nose is getting better (but I still can't blow it till Tuesday), and they'll finish up the heat pump work tomorrow.

But, SHEESH!

I love this!

Perhaps it's because I'm on a long-range sick-day-taking spree, and therefore am spending a lot of time in bed with my laptop.




And, to give credit where credit is due: It's from my favorite webcomic, XKCD

Laugh Out Loud funny

As the mother of a tween (or tween-ish) girl, Disney Channel is a fairly constant presence in my house. Generally, it's background noise; subliminal enough that I don't notice it outright, but somehow know all the characters, plot lines, who's dating whom.....

Periodically, though, it breaks through my consciousness with a real live LOL moment.

Like today: One of Grace's favorite shows is Studio DC: Almost Live. For some reason, this show blends the Muppets and current Disney Channel stars. No idea why, but it's funny in a surreal kind of way.

So today we were watching, and Current Disney Singing Sensation Demi Lovato was set to sing a duet with Kermit. Miss Piggie, of course, had other ideas, so thrust into the role as romantic foil and duet partner was.....Beaker.

Perhaps you have to be (way too) familiar with Camp Rock to find this as hysterical as I did, but I truly laughed hysterically. And then tried to hack out a lung.

Here's the clip, along with the "real" duet (With Singing Sensation Joe Jonas!)

Monday Fun

From Kathy (and, yes, I swiped some of her answers, and YES I had a hard time sticking to one word!!!).....

Trying to say what you want in "just one word" is challenging. Try One Word Answers just for fun ...
TYPE ONLY 1 WORD... IT'S HARDER THEN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? Tray
2. Your significant other? David
3. Your hair? Brown
4. Your mother? Deaceased
5. Your father? Sweet
6. Your favorite thing? Kids
7. Your dream last night? None
8. Your favorite drink? Martini
9. Your dream/goal? Serenity
10. The room you're in? Sick
11. Your fear? Palin
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Unsure
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Mean
15. Muffins? Stud! :-)
16. One of your wish list items? France
17. Where did you grow up? Cullowhere?
18. The last thing you did? Approve
19. What are you wearing? Jammies
20. Your TV? On
21. Your pet? rodent
22. Your computer? Laptop
23. Your life? Great
24. Your mood? eh....
25. Missing someone? mildly
26. Your car? Buster
27. Something you're not wearing? Contacts
28. Favorite Store? Depends...
29. Your summer? Interesting...
30. Your favorite color? purple
31. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
32. Who will/would re-post this? A
33. FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER:
    1. San Francisco
    2. Cary
    3. school
    4. HT
34. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME:
    1. David
    2. Cindi
    3. Kathy
    4. Dad
35. FOUR OF MY (CURRENT) FAVORITE FOODS:
    1. port
    2. asparagus
    3. soup
    4. steak
36. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW?
    1. Doctor
    2. vacation
    3. mountains
    4. Europe

Have fun!!!!!

Here's Jackie!!!

Don't know how he got up there (Peter's innocent this time), but Jack found a new spot today:

I'm up already!!!

I've been having a hard time rolling out of bed lately; I appear to have become immune to my alarm clock. For whatever reason, I wake nicely to the alarm on my cell phone, so I've taken to setting that as well.

Well, apparently Jack and Dusty wanted to help me get up today!

First, my regular alarm went off. OK, I lay in bed and listened to NPR for a bit. Dusty hopped up on the bed and snuggled up next to me (note: There's something very soporific about a purring cat, which may explain why I've found it so hard to get up the past, oh, 3 weeks or so!)

Then my cell phone alarm went off. I wasn't ready to get up yet, so I rolled over and hit snooze, then went back to snuggle with Dusty some more.

Dusty, though, had apparently decided it was time for me to start my day - he stuck his nose in my ear and began sniffing! YUCK! Cold, wet, kittie nose making sniffing noises in my ear! Kinda like a combination of a Wet Willie and a bad teenage makeout session! Plus, it tickled!

Then Jack decided he'd help; he managed to hoist himself up on the bed (quite a feat; he's not the most svelte cat I've ever seen!), and started licking my armpit! By this time I had my hand over my ear, so Dusty was now grooming my hair.

At this point, I admitted defeat and got up!

What happens when you have relatives in The Castro

Grace, Peter and I were watching My House is Worth What? tonight on HGTV. The first house was owned by two partners in San Francisco; they had bought and renovated a Victorian right before adopting a son, and were now wondering how much it would be worth.

A few minutes into the segment, Grace looked up and said, "I just realized something."

"What's that?" I asked.

"They're gay," says Grace, "I was wondering, and said, 'Hey, wait. Where do they live? San Fran!" (shrugs matter of factly)

I love my daughter!

O......M......G

Sorry, but sometimes people just leave me speechless (but, luckily, not Blog-less!).

I don't particularly like it when people bring cell phones into a public restroom, but I have at least gotten to the point where I'm philosophical about it. I mean, if they want their friends to listen to me in one of my more private moments, why should I care? I don't know who's on the other end of the call, after all, and they don't know me.

But I had a new experience today.

I was in the restroom at work, when I heard someone come in, talking on a cell phone (NOT one of my colleagues, incidentally, it was someone here for training). Ok, psychic eye-roll, but whatever.

Then she said, "Wait, can you take me off speaker-phone?"

Nice. In the potty on speaker-phone!

Of course, I've now blogged about it, so I don't know that I'm much better!

Is THAT why they call it CAT-5?

When I got home tonight, I wanted to do some work on the computer. Since investing 20 bucks in the world longest ethernet cable (OK, not really. But it is 100 feet!), I pretty much always just use that rather than wireless; it's more stable and faster.

But the ethernet cable was upstairs, along with my power cord.

So, I went upstairs, grabbed the power cord and one end of the ethernet cable, and headed back downstairs. The boys, of course, were following me around; they typically follow me around for about 10 or 20 minutes after I get home, talking to me (Mrow! We missed you! Mrow!!! Pet us!! Mrow! Look what we did to you toilet paper!).

Cats, of course, like to chase things.

Especially long twisty sinuous things.

Like, apparently, 100 feet long CAT-5 ethernet cables!

And, for the record, Jack's claws fit perfectly around an ethernet cable! I nearly tripped twice because the cable trailing behind me suddenly stopped, and I didn't!

My kids the political commentators

Peter and Grace have been quite involved in this years political races. Their Dad videoed them endorsing their favorite candidates.

Here's Peter's:




Grace, of course, is not quite as serious as Peter is.....

Epic Fail!!

I was at David's house this morning; eventually he had to leave to go to the airport to catch a flight to Pasadena (something about a little old lady, I dunno). David is my Rockband connection; sadly, ever since I turned him on to WoW, he won't play Rockband with me anymore, and I have to resort to sneaking into his house when he's gone to get my RB fix.

Anyway, so I was playing today after he left for the airport; I'd just started on Faith No More's Epic when my cell phone rang. I ignored it, because I was in the middle of the song; but then David's phone rang, so I figured I should see who it was. Sure enough, it was David; he'd left a power cable behind when he went to the airport, and wanted me to bring it to him.

I said yes, but by the time I got off the phone, I'd failed the song (since I hadn't been playing for about 2 minutes!).

It wasn't until I was driving back from the airport that I realized: I'd just literally had an epic fail! Rockband even said so:

And, yeah, for the record, when I got back I passed. Not with flying colors, but I passed, and given that it's been, oh, about a month since I played at all, I'll take it!

Hap Birth to Me!!!!

Hap Birth to Me!
Hap Birth to Me!
Hap Birth to Me,
Hap Birth to Me!

Yep, it's my half-birthday. I suppose I cared about half-birthdays when I was a kid, then they kind of floated off my radar....

Until I had kids! My kids keep track of, and revel in, their quarter, half, and three quarter birthdays. This summer, in fact, Peter got quarter-birthday cupcakes and Grace got three quarter birthday cupcakes! (from their sitter, incidentally, not me!)

Anyway, I'd not thought of it being my half birthday until I was dating a form today (at the doctor's office, no less), and blurted out, "Oh! It's my half birthday!" The nice nurse laughed at me.

But tonight at dinner the kids each gave me half a hug (one-armed), and Peter took a leftover had from one of the parties Grace went to last weekend and put a "1/2" in front of "Birthday", so I got to wear that during dinner!

So Hap Birth to me!

Coffee Rorshach

As I was coming back into my office this afternoon, I saw this coffee splotch halfway up the stairs:

It looks like a pig flying to me!

Into The Great Wide Open

Or, the further adventures of Dusty the Outdoor-cat-wannabe.

Ever since his little escapade Sunday night, Dusty has been DYING to get back outside. So, Tuesday night when I was buying food for Dazzle I bought a leash and a collar for Dusty.

It was too late last night when we got home to take him out (we decided dark + kitty on a leash was a BAD combination), but today was a delayed opening for the kids' school, so we took him out a couple of times today.

I tried to capture the moment on film (ok, on memory), but Dusty has an inexplicable ability to turn his rear towards the camera right at the moment the shutter opens, so mainly what I took were lots of pictures of his butt. But (no pun intended), I did get one halfway decent shot:

He did get a little freaked out; mainly becuase Peter, Grace and I were all following him around, though! And, once we got him inside, he went straight to the front door and started pawing at it, so I think overall he enjoyed himself!

Why drummers shouldn't have kids

Or, at least shouldn't let them play drums.

Grace has joined her school's drum line (yep, they have a drum line, a dance squad and a step team in elementary school. Love it!); according to her, Mr Garret (one of the coaches) has declared that if they want to play snare, they need their own sticks. Wisely (imo) he has decided NOT to let 8, 9 and 10 year olds borrow his sticks!

So, I went out at lunch today to the local music store to buy her a pair of sticks.

I have to admit, I started with the Vic Firths and other good sticks. And, no, they're not expensive, but a little voice in the back of my head did say "Are you really going to pay 8 or 9 dollars for drumsticks for a kid???"

Then I saw the jar of cheap sticks on the counter. Three dollars a pair, they're still decent, seemed like just the thing for a budding percusionist. I even bought two pairs, figuring the chances of her breaking or losing a stick were pretty high.

Then I had to drive home.

With my iPod playing Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell.

With drumsticks in the car.

I was good, though -- I only used the sticks when I was stopped at red lights!!! (the rest of the time I just drummed on the steering wheel with my hands like I always do!) And, I even left both pairs of sticks at home for Grace, rather than taking one pair to my office!

What I would've said....

I've apparently either had a very busy, or a very un-connected past few days, because there have been several things that I meant to blog about, but just didn't get around to it before something else happened that took precedence in my blog-consciousness (blogsciousness?)

Which is kinda sad. All these little windows to my world that are now without a larger audience, simply because it was late, I didn't have my computer, I wasn't in the mood, the words wouldn't come together the way I wanted, or some other excuse.

So, without further ado, a brief list of the things I would've blogged about, if life had been different:

• Grief, loss, and things you miss (hey, I'm occasionally serious in my blog!)
• The joy of a solid win after years of just-not-quites (sorry, but moral victories still go in the L column)
• 10 8-year-olds and their beads, and how kids are totally different at a birthday party than they are at the bus stop
• How, even at 8, females already hug each other hello and goodbye
• Locking my keys in my car for the first time in a LONG time
• Dusty growling at another kitty in the neighborhood at 3 in the morning (but from INSIDE my house, thankfully)
• Dusty trying to get on the school bus
• Dusty trying to climb out the window into the garage

OK, I feel much more complete now!

Yet ANOTHER adventure with the boys

Jack and Dusty are hanging out with Auntie Meg again for a bit. As usual, there's always at least one adventure when the boys are here.

Tonight's drama involved Dusty (by FAR the more adventurous of the two). The kids and I had gone to Cary to have dinner with my friend David and his family (always an adventure in itself).

After a quick trip to the grocery store, we got home a smidgie before nine, which is a little later than I'd wanted, so I hopped straight into Mom mode, and started barking orders: "Peter, go check what's for lunch!" "Grace, run upstairs and take a quick shower" "I'll unload the groceries!" (Hey, at least I order myself around, too...)

As I was getting the bags out of the car, Grace said, "Hey, was that just a cat running across the driveway?" I blew her off, but she was insistent, so I told her to go inside and make sure both cats were there.

She walked in to Peter in a panic, because he could see Dusty on the stoop, looking IN! Yep, the indoor cat was on the outside looking in....

So, I went around the front of the house, snagged Dusty, and brought him inside. Then we went looking for how he got out; today was Grace's kid birthday party, and I was afraid he'd gone missing in all of that confusion (which would've meant he was out about 9 hours). Then I remembered we'd seen him AFTER the party, so at most he would've been out about 5 hours, but we still didn't know HOW he'd escaped!

Peter pretty quickly found a screen missing in the upstairs playroom, though, so we figured out HOW he got out, even if we still don't quite know WHEN!

Dusty is none the worse for the experience, even falling from a second story window. He did, though, look somewhat confused by it all! Jack was very glad he was back in safe and sound, and spent a large amount of time licking Dusty!

Silly, silly boys....

The final product

Grace's bracelet on her hand!

The work in progress

Grace's bracelet in the planning stages...

Grace's Party

Grace's birthday party this year is at The Original Ornament, a make-your-own jewelry place in Carrboro.

Here's Grace and her friend Elena at the party:

Kenan at night WITH lights

And this is what it SHOULD look like!

Kenan at night

You may not be able to tell, but half the lights are out at Kenan right now. Not sure why, but they say they'll be on soon. Maybe someone has to run to the hardware store?

The real reason telecommuting is a bad idea

When you telecommute and you have a craving for a big bag of candy corn and succumb to said craving, you wind up eating it all yourself.

When you work in an office and buy a big bag of candy corn (and a cute little Halloween themed bowl to put it in!), your colleagues help you eat it, and it's gone in a day or two!

World's most expensive pizza

We have a new Wednesday night routine: Grace goes to To Shin Do from 5 to 5:45, while she's there Peter and I go to Amante's pizza and eat dinner, and then get her something to go. When she's done, we head to church so I can do bells at 6:15, but by the time we're home, everyone is all fed and happy!

So, tonight Peter and I ordered; Peter usually gets a build your own pizza. The total was more than I expected, but I didn't really think about it.

Until we sat down, and Peter told me what he got: a small pizza with bacon, ham, meatballs, black olives, green olives and kalamata olives.

Yep, that's six toppings. Six.

The pizza itself is only $5.25. The toppings are a buck each. Yep, his toppings cost more than his pizza!!!!

Here's a picture of the monstrosity...