Gifts

Some of you may or may not know that I hosted my In-Laws for a couple of weeks. And being the good hostess that I am, I never took one stinkin picture of any of the stuff we did. Yeah, I'm just cool like that. We did have a good time, though. We did lots of cool stuff. We did a "double dutch bus" tour of the City. Very interesting. We made pajama pants, and the poodle skirt. Charlie did laundry. Mountains of laundry. He even cleaned under my kids' beds. Seriously, that alone put me a good week ahead in the housework department.

But Mom, being the sweetheart she is, knows the two things I love the most. Cookies and Roosters. So she gave us a "thank-you" rooster cookie jar. And she filled it up with home made chocolate chip cookies. Yummy! They lasted about 3 days, and my kids were begging for more. So I spent all day yesterday (okay, like an hour, but it seemed like all day) making more chocolate chip cookies. And refilling the jar. And I suspect they will last another 3 days.

So thanks, Mom. That jar will be put to very good use.

What I'm Doing Today

Mondays. Ugh. I don't especially look forward to Mondays. Don't get me wrong, I would look forward to them less if I had to go "off" to work, but dealing with what is left behind from a weekend of slakerness is no picnic either.


My kitchen in all its glory. The weekend tornado has definitely left its mark.



The laundry. Okay, it's been sitting here since Friday, so sue me. Part of me was hoping that Sugar Daddy would take it upon himself to put it away. Or at least carry it upstairs. I should have known better.



Bebe. I had to make a PetsMart run the other night for some necessities. Look at that cute new sweater. Don't judge me, it was 19 this morning, and I'm pretty sure I'd want a sweater on when I went outside to pee and poop and then eat my poop. Oh, and the diaper. Yeah, it's her time of the month. About the only thing I hate about a female dog that isn't fixed. I think it's time to get that taken care of. She hates the diaper, and I hate cleaning up the mess if there isn't a diaper.



And here's a shot of Maggie. I just love this kid. She was trying so hard to finish off the Lucky Charms so she could start cutting out the mask on the back. That's Mags, for you. Always the crafter. Cutting, pasting, taping, whatever.

So, that's pretty much my day. I'll be making a stop at the library for a new book. I've started the Janet Evanovich books "One for the Money", and so far I've read through One, part of Fourteen, some of Four, and just finished Three last night. In that order. Good thing I'm SMRT, or I'd get confused. Who knows what else today will bring, there's always a surprise in store.

In Case You Haven't Had Enough

I understand how boring it can be to browse the various blogs on your Google reader and see only images of mediocre children dressed up as mediocre characters. But I bring you Emma. A most beautiful child, in a most beautiful home made costume. I had a few people tell me they needed to see all of my kids in their costumes, so here you go.

Yes, she's in a poodle skirt, made by yours truly. Even the little doggie and leash. Yes, because I'm that talented. And yes, she's wearing her pajamas underneath. We took this picture on Wednesday afternoon because I forgot to get a picture of her on Halloween. She was home "sick" that day, cough cough. But what can I say, I'm a big softie about stuff like that. But seriously, she is sick. She has an ear infection. Her first ever. So I thought she deserved a day off for that.

A Special Month

I am so disappointed with myself. I had a post all written out, and thought I had scheduled it to publish today. And yet, I cannot find it anywhere. Apparently I need to rehash the pain that is cancer. November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month. Don't you love having a month dedicated to every cause? I think December should be Cash Depletion Awareness month. January should be Sanity Losing Awareness month. But lets just focus on this here month. November. There is a certain symbolism involved here.

My mom loved the Holidays. She would set up the Christmas tree at the office on the day after Halloween. She would cut out the Christmas show schedule from the newspaper and tape it to the fridge. Her embellished sweaters and watches and bracelets and pins and socks would be out in full force. And November was her jumping off point for all of this craziness. It is no small irony that the very cancer that took her life has it's scheduled awareness month at the very time of year she lived for.

I hate that I need to be aware of cancer in general. I especially hate that I have to be aware of pancreatic cancer specifically. I hate all that the awareness means. It means so many people are losing the battle. It means so many families are torn apart. But specifically for me, it means I have to remember all the feelings that come along with losing my mother. Every June I will remember that day of the diagnosis. Every July I will remember the dying and the funeral. Every August I will remember that drive across the plains to my home, knowing on return it would never be the same. September and October will bring thoughts of her birthday and conference weekend. And now November will bring the awareness. Only to usher in December and the Holidays. This seems to be some sort of sick monthly countdown. I wonder if every month will be special?

Again I Say

You might remember a little while ago I posted about a booger being stuck to my mouse. And it wasn't mine. I swear.

Well, it has happened again. Only this time it wasn't on my mouse. It was suck on the closet doors in my entry way. Nice.

I guess this is what happens when 2 kids have runny/stuffy noses, and the other one just has a special affinity for picking hers. And 1 of the 2 kids has croup, and the other one of the 2 kids has an ear infection. How lucky are we? Just in time to pass it all through the family for our trip to Utah. Yippee.

And today, after hearing of a friends passing from cancer, I miss my mom. I hate knowing what they are in store for over the next few months. It makes my heart hurt.

Bonus Post

I'd just like to thank all my sibs out there for being the first to put my new button on their blogs.

What? You don't see it on their blogs when you click the links? There is obviously something terribly wrong with their blogs, because I know in my heart of hearts that they would never, ever go more than a blog check or two without copying and pasting that simple HTML code over there. See? It's right over there on the left. See? It really is.

Apparently my hard-earned button has not taken blogdom by storm as I had anticipated. Shocking, really, I know. So far my button has made it to one, and only one, blog. But I mean, come on. Some of us are blood, so they are obligated to adhere this here button to their blog, are they not? I thought so.

So get on with it already. This is my subtle cry for approval.

Thanks.

Halloweenies

This was quite the Halloween around these parts. After arriving back home on Friday afternoon from a nice getaway to the city, we scurried around getting things ready for our party that evening. What started out as as small, intimate affair, blossomed into a full on fest. It was great. I think after final count we ended up with a total of 55 people. Just what Halloween should be.

Here's Maggie in her Princess dress. This isn't her costume. This is her daily attire. But at least she got candy for wearing it this time.


And here's Maggie and Gretta. Notice Gretta's costume. It is so cute. You'll never guess what she is. And I mean that because she absolutely would not let me put her costume on her. So she went around in her overalls. But she still looked cute.

And here's a taste of what part of our group looked like. We all tried to Trick or Treat together, but between burning corn bread, and runaway dogs, we ended up split up most of the way. That's okay, because we arrived back home, and had the most fun. White chicken chili, red bean chili, cornbread, and good company. The recipe for awesomeness.