busy day

It all started with hubby staying home sick, again. He is feeling better, has an appetite again, will be going back to work tomorrow, and, thankfully, it's not a kidney stone. All we can figure is everyone in the house keeps playing tag withthe mystery illness. I have been spared due to my constant stuffiness of pregnancy. I have to drive one of the basement dwelling roommates to and ome from work, but he is appreciative, and I hear a report on the radio that his job's corporate office(Walgreen's) has suspended 4 St Louis Park pharmacists, WITHOUT PAY, for failing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception. Yay Walgreens!!! WOOHOO!!! I will get all my prescriptions filled there now for sure! As I leave to pick him up, my cell phone rings-it's the Doctor's office, they have all the results from my ultrasound. Everything is perfect! Yes, the plecenta is a little close to the cervix, but is anchored in such a way that it will grow AWAY from the cervix, not toward it. No placenta Previa for me. Oh, did I mention my slip onto my ass and wrench my sholder down the stairs this morning? After ascertaining that myself and BabyBoy#3 were fine, everyone yelled at me for being silly enough to fall on the stairs, while preggers. Yeah...like I tried! Then, everyone cleaned! Not, just me, I have a dining room again, plus a kitchen and a fair portion of living room.
Oh, also, we decided on the name for BB#3, which will not be divulged here, because I don't use any of the boys names here.
I am rambly and tired and want an orange.

Oh. My. God.

This will be an open letter in two parts-
First to the People Of Minnesota
Dear POMN,
It snowed! It snowed last week, last year, and pretty much every year since there's been a minnesota! Why is it that y'all seem to forget, evry yeear, that this white fluffy stuff, that is cold, and often slipperry, falls from the sky and clogs the roads. Why do you forget, every year, that people will be idiots, including you, by driving at vastly different speeds and swerving all around in bad conditions. PEOPLE! GET A GRIP!! It's just SNOW, it comes, it goes, sometimes it does both in the same day, sometime it sticks around for a while, but it happens every year. Oh, and if I can brush the snow off the top of my minivan, while PREGNANT, you can sure as hell brish the snow off the roof of your ford festiva or whatever the fuck your little tuiny car right in front of me is, that is blowing all the accumilated snow and ice from it's roof into my window any time we go faster than say...twenty miles an hour. Thank You.

Part two, to the Drunken Girl I Used to Go to High School With
Dear Chick-
I am really, really, glad that you finally got help for your drinking problem, I know that it couldn't have been easy. I am sorry, that in your teens, you felt the urge to drink yourself into a stupor and do stupid things. I also understand that one of the twelve steps is seeking forgiveness. However, I do not think that the powers that be at AA wanted you, if by chance you were to run into someone from highschool, say ME, at the grocery store, right before a holiday, to fess up to having slept with my boyfreind from almost 11 years ago. Really honey, it was an awkward situation, and I could care less, it's over and done, and I haven't seen him in YEARS. Did you give anythought to if I really needed to know this, or did you just decide, "Oh, Theres HW2K, I should dredge up really bad, potentially painful, and deffinately awkward things from our past, in the MIDDLE OF THE PRODUCE DEPT?""" This struck you as a good idea?! To be perfectly blunt, I knew he slept with you, and pretty much every other woman in the school, I was young and stupid, and insecure. You were popular, drunk and easy. We were both easy marks. Get over it, and please, don't corner anyone else in the store.


Oh, and for anyone wondering-Littleman is doing fairly much better, Bigguy is whiny, and Hubby is home sick today, and I am praying it's not a kidney stone.

more thanksgiving stuff

My mom does her thanksgiving the sunday following, so that, feasably, everyone can be there. This only works, however, when someones youngest child decided to become heavily conjested and starts vomitting profusely. I am rather frustrated, in that this is the second major, and I don't know how many total, family get together I've missed in the last just over a year. I know it's not entirely my fault, as I cannot control when my kids fall ill, but it still sucks.

thanksgiving, the recap

Everything came out well, I think. Relatively on time, and, as always for turkey day, there was more than enough food. The only real problem I have is this-My turkey was very flavorful, but cooked faster than it should have by almost an hour, and was dry-but only on one side!! Otherwise-it rocked. Oh, and it became painfully obvious that I need a large serving platter, and a large cutting board of the meat carving variety-in a pinch-a pizza pan works though.

Now, for something completely different-
My Mother-in-Law does many a thing to piss me off, being she is queen passive-aggressive, and as I said, I don't like to play that fame, but every now and again, she does something that is genuinely nice for me. She has a fabulous pot that I have envied for a while, it is heavy, cooks evenly, rarely sticks, and, well, it just rocks. She and the FIL found on at the thrifst store they frequent, picked it up for me, are giving it a proper cleaning and dis-infecting first-just to be on the safeside, and then it will be mine! Plus, they are taking the boys tomorrow so that I can finally see the Harry Potter movie, since I didn't go when everyone else did.

my kitchen, part three...

Pies are made and cooling, well, okay, they are baked and cooling, the Mrs Smith's Pies people baked them. Sink is shined, counters sscrubbed, floors mopped, stove shiny. Now, can I keep it cleaned? If I am smart, I will clean as I go tomorrow.

my kitchen, part two...

After going to the grocery store, and miraculously buying everything I need to make dinner tomorrow for less than $35, well okay, like 40 cents less, but still, less, I came home, recovered from the horror of day before thanksgiving at Cub Foods, oh Dear God, the humanity, and prepared to clean afformentioned kitchen. I have pies to bake tonight, so I can get in a 17 pound turkey tomorrow, so I can feed my household and Sistah-Girl,(as I have decided to call her here). One needs cleanliness, and perhaps more importantly, space and dishes, in order to cook. No, not all my dishes are dirty, not even half, just the diches essential to making Thanksgiving dinner, oh, and tonights dinner, must remember to feed the Hubby and children tonight! I open the dishwasher...pull out the bottem rack...and notice...wait for it.. THE THREE INCHES OF STANDING WATER!!! Yes, standing water in my dishwasher, so I decided to run it again, with all the original dishes in there, to make sure someone who is roughly 3 and a half feet tall didn't walk in and turn the dial with his four year old fingers. Yes, I could do the dishes by hand, but that will take longer, and I need the sink clear to thaw the turkey in it's luxurious ice-water bath, otherwise it'll get thawed in the tub, and then the boys cannot have baths tonight. Let's be honest, the chances of either son getting a bath tonoght is slim to none anywho.

Oh, and did I mention I still need to get toilet paper and laundry degertent-neither of which are necessary to dinner tonight or tomorrow, but both will make life easier and cleaner.

It's almost over-And then, Mom-the-Hipple gets to do it all on sunday! Well, minus the Green bean casserrole, I'll bring that.

my kitchen...

my kitchen is a mess, my stove is filthy, I need to do the dishes and mop the floor, but...my entire house smells like two fresh loves of crispy banana bread, tomorrow it will smell like pie, and thursday it will just smell good!

Baby # 3

I had my 20 week ultra sound today, well 20 weeks 1 day. I am halfway through this pregnancy with baby#3, and everything is looking good. My doctor will be getting back to me early next week to set up an appointment before our next regularly scheduled endevor if it looks like anything is amiss, but I doubt that will happen. I was lucky in that I got a very honest ultrasound technician. US techs have a hard row to hoe, especially when they are working with pregnant women. They are limitted by liability laws in what they can tell the family,but at the same tame, can use their judgement to decide what is necessary. The US tech, when I had my ultra sound with Littleman, was withen their legal right to tell me about the 2 vessel cord, as that was obvious, not easily prone to error, and within her guidelines of what is doable, but chose instead to make a lot of "uh-huh" and "hmmm" noises that freaked the shit out of me and Hubby. This time, Hubby was home with the kids, all of whom were still in bed. The tech had everything warmed up and ready to go, she let me know everytime she found what she needed, if she needed to look a little more what she was saving images of, and if it all looked good. It was very reassuring that she had no problems finding the 4-chamber heart, and that the beat was stable, as both the boys have murmers. Innocent murmers, but they could become more malicious as they age and become more active. She found the cord right away, all three vessels in tact, entering the baby's belly and leaving the placenta. Both lungs, diaphragm, kidneys, liver, bladder and stomach all accounted for. I am so pleased. Many people do not have the luxery of giving birth to a healthy baby, with all parts present, accounted for, and functional, and it appears that I will be having this for the third time in three years. Her only concern was very, very mild, she stressed that Dr A will call me if he thinks it's an issue- My placenta is sitting nearer to the cervix than is normal. It is not touching the cervix, nor is it overlapping the cervix, so it does NOT look like placenta previa will be an issue, but she just wanted to give me a heads up. Everything looks fine, healthy and on track for the babies developmental age, incliding Hubby and my baby's trademark big head and linebacker shoulders. The circumferance is already measuring in at roughly 17.5 cenimeters, which translates roughly into 6.5 to 7 inches. It will be at least double that come birth. The shoulders you ask? I do not have an exact measurement, but the tech said they were sizeable.
I am happy to have a healthy baby, I am blessed to have a heathy baby.

Oh, what's that you ask? Wasn't I supposed to find out gender today? I did! It appears that baby#3, who still doesn't have a name picked out yet, is going to be Baby BOY #3. Well, either that, or I'm having a girl with a pronounced penis!

7:30 tomorrow morning

ultrasound at 7:30 am. I gained too much weight, again.

four in the morning?

I wake up, I had rolled over onto my back again, and cannot feel my feet. I need to pee, badly. I need to figure out if it's okay to wake up Hubby, to help me out of bed, 'cause I slept wrong, and cannot feel my feet, at four in the morning. Have I set the scene yet?
All of a sudden, I realise Hubby isn't in bed, he is in the hallway, grumbling, and Bigguy is whining. Okay, I think, Bigguy has had a nightmare, and Hubby, in one of his superdad moments, is dealing with it. WRONG!!!! Bigguy was still awake at four this morning! Quarter after four to be precise!!! What is a four year old boy doing awake at four in the morning???? Hubby impresses upon Bigguy the importance of going to sleep, immediately, and crawls into the room, explaining to me that when he got up to go to the bathroom, he saw that Bigguy was awake, and obviously had been all night long. After he helps me out of bed, and I go pee, we all drift off to sleep.
Cut to the morning. I woke up early, Baby bear needed to be watched for a few hours this morning as his Poppa Bear had a doctors appointment. I woke up early, three hours after the earlier incedent. Everyone is snug in bed. When Hubby wakes up, he lets me know that he wants Bigguy awake after I get home from dropping him at work. We wake up one of the roommates, drive Hubby to work, and begin the hour long task of waking up a four year old. It is 9:30 approximately when I get him down stairs, and about 10:30 when he stops whining and fussing and carrying on. I explain to him that when we say it's bedtime, he needs to stay in bed. Now, I get to keep a four year old, who hasn't gotten enough sleep, awake until at least 7:30 or 8 pm in order to try to get him on some semblance of a schedule.
Fun for me!!

NOOOO!!!!!

One of my favorite books is being turned into a movie-it looks to be good, so I am looking forward to seeing "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." I grew up with them, and hope they are done justice. The VIDEO GAME, however, disturbs me. I was fine with the Lord of the Rings game, and am cool with all the Harry Potter commercialization, but not C.S. Lewis, please.

Old friends

I am quite lucky in that I have some friends yet that have known me for over ten years. Most of them are very honest with me, and I with them. While having a converation with one particular friends, whom I have not always seen eye to eye with due to religeous differences, he pointed out just how much I have changed since becoming a mom. I realized some of the changes right off the bat, but others surprised me. I always knew that being a mom mellowed me out in many respects. It made me take my relationship with Hubby more seriously, took me off the dating scene, changed how I dressed, and in many respects, changed my attitude about life in general. What I didn't realize was how ahppy it made my long time friends to see these changes. They no longer live in fear of me getting hurt, badly hurt, or running away, or hurting myself, or snapping. What amazed me, is I never knew how scared they were for me. I never knew, with as honest as we all are with each other, how much I was hurting them by just being me, which at the time was a pretty messed up person.
I am very glad that I came, relatively unscathed, all said and done, through the forest of my past, and I am glad that I have a few, close friends who were there with me the entire way, to remind where I came from, and how proud I should be of what I have now.
I have a husband, two kids with a third on the way, a fabulous, and supporting family. I am lucky, and I know it.

a few blessed moments of almost silence

For what seems like the first time in days, it is almost quiet on the small child front. Baby Bear is finally napping, after a morning and early afternoon full of false starts. As we all know, giggling at your feet is much more productive than sleep, yes. Littleman has his One-Year-Molars coming in. Oddly enough, these are molars that arrive in the generally time frame that a child turns one. Out of all of his teath that arrive on schedule in his poor cross-teething mouth, it is his molar on the bottom. The half of his mouth that, until yesterday, only had 2 of his 6 teeth, and therefor the harder area in which for a tooth to come thru. For newer readers to this here thing called my blog, Cross-Teething is a phenomena wherein the teeth cut through the gums in an order distinctly out of the normal pattern. In littleman's mouth, it happenned thussly-bottom two center teeth, almost at the same time, aound ten months(teething started at three), top right two(being right center then one just to right of that) at about 11 months, followed by the left top two at about 12 and a half months. Now, at thirteen months, the left bottom molar came out of nowhere in just two and a half days, teething and all, the other three, plus the other two bottom teeth that go into making the front eight are all really close, but look to be taking as long as they can without medical intervention. Bigguy still has the mystery virus. It is deffinately a virus, not the flu, and not hugely communicable, so I suppose it could be worse. All said and done, I have a four year old that doesn't feel well, so is whiney and clingy, not to mention hugely frustrated, because he was feeling much. much better yesterday, and woke up feeling "very angry and unhappy" in his tummy, nose and throat. (It isn't right that he is that cute, while that sick), I have a cranky, sleep deprived Bugguy, coming in at thirteen months, who is hurting, and mad because Momma cannot make it all better, and what am I doing holding and feeding another baby when he doesn't feel good, and Ohh1 Is that banana and cheerios and pepperoni and milk(eat eat eat, sleep), and a three and a half month old who is more interested in his outer limbs than sleep, so is becoming more cranky. Just about the time that I get one or even two settled down, the others act up, and all are awake and cranky! And just think, in a few more months, I will have a newborn!! Granted, I won't have Baby Bear anymore, and Littleman will be older and more used to having a baby around, and Bigguy should be starting school in september.

On a different note, we have the bed set up, and will be very comfy for the few months until we buy a queen size. I figure we will need the queen by february so that my rapidly growing tummy will stay in bed and ubder the covers. Oy, I am getting huge. Yes, some of it isn't baby wight, but all of the fat is at the arms and thighs-the tummy is all baby. Yep,all baby, and that watermelon I swallowed whole on a dare.

blogiversary, and cardboard boxes

First, let us all stop to wish my blog a Happy first birthday!! YAY!!!

Second, something that will come to no surprise of anyone with smallish children, or anyone who has seen my oldest's favorite playthings The Cardboard box is added to the Toy Hall Of Fame!!! This is fabulous, and about time. I am not certain of how long the National Toy Hall of Fame has been around, but the box should have been the first entrant. Thank you!

hubbub

There's been a lot of hubbub recently about various places asserting stroller rules, rules that keep children behaved, and the like. Here now, is my official standing on this matter.
1-it takes a man and a woman to have a child, please remember that fathers are parents, too.
2- let your kids run wild at home, Hell! I know I do, but in public teach them manners. Nice people don't through tantrums, food, or hard plastic items at one another. If you misbehave, we leave. End of story.
3- very small children will occasionally fuss, they do that, if they get to be annoying, leave and sooth them, then come back.
4- Breastfeeding is a normal thing, it is not dirty, nasty or wrong...however, it may offend other people, so try to be discreet. I am not suggesting you leave a room, but try not to whip out the tit and spray someone, OK?
5- If you disagree with how I am raising my child-keep it to yourself-exceptions-if your child had the EXACT same problem as mine, and something worked well for you, offer a suggestion politely and non forcefully, if you think I am hurting my child by doing/not doing something, aproach me, nonconfrontationally, and we can talk...otherwise-BACK THE HELL OFF
6- if I am bothering you in public, say something politely instead of shooting me dirty looks, I respond to conversation

I'll add more as I think about it.

"I do not love shots!"

Bigguy was not doing to hot this week. He woke up just fine on tuesday, and in the hour between 3 and 4 pm, he was stuffy, feverish, and had a swollen and sore throat. I have a fear of sore throats. As a child, I had strep more times than I can count, I had so much pennecillin(sic?) that it doesn't even work for me anymore, instead, I get a Z-pac, or whatever new cure-all drug is on the market, as amoxycillen doesn't work to hot either. I finally had my tonsils out at 15, after getting very, very ill. I remember, in all those doctors visits, my mom demanding they do something, and being told not to worry, I'd grow out of it. Yeah, right! A tonsilectomy and adnoidectoly at 15 is NOT growing out of it. What all this boils down to, is anytime my kids run a fever with a sore throat, I panic. I am always certain it is going to be strep, or their tonsils, and they are going to have to endure what I went through. Hubby knows that if they ever get strep more than once in a year, I am DEMANDING that their tonsils be romoved. It is not very complicated, and it's not like your tonsils really do anything anyway, do they?
After a trip to the Dr on wed. it turns out that it was "just a virus". This means, no medication, it'll go away on it's own, you could be misserable for 2 days, you could be misserable for a week. I was glad to hear that, but I felt bad, because I knew Bigguy wasn't leaving that office without a shot. If it turned out to be strep, he would get an antibiotic shot(the hard to spell pennicilen(sic?)), if it wasn't bacterial, and his fever was in check or gone, which it was, he was getting his flu vaccine. Well, flu shot in the thigh won! All I have heard since is "But Momma, I do not love shots!" Apparently, in Bigguy's world, if you do not love something, you should not have to deal with it.
Now that he is feeling better, I am going to have a fairly child-free weekend! The in-laws are taking both boys overnight tonight. The male portion of the in-laws is taking Bigguy to the Train Museum, which bigguy just looooves, to surprise bigguy with the new exhibit. What is the new exhibit, you might ask? Why Thomas the Tank Engine, of course! Only Bigguys very favoritest train that ever was...ever!!! That four year old boy is going to be on cloud nine! Then, for dinner, they are going to Old Country Buffet! Food nirvana for the small tyke who adores slad and veggies crowd. If at than point you think the weekend couldn't get any better, you're wrong. After they get brought home tomorrow, my Sister, Bigguy's Auntie, is taking him over night!!! I have no idea what they will be doing, I just know he is thrilled to get to sleep on his aunties couch. And to top it all off, his Auntie step-sister and Uncle Rice will be here for brunch on sunday. Littleman will be happy to see people over night friday, and to have momma and poppa all to himself on saturday, and to see more people on sunday, but Bigguy-man, this is shaping up to be the ultimate four-year-old weekend!

What's that you ask? What are Hubby and I going to do with a childfree zone tonight, and a one, small, child zone tomorrow night? We have a very romantic weekend chock full of CLEANING!! I shit you not. Child free time, and we are going to clean. The boys room cannot really be cleaned unless they are gone, being they make more messes trying to help clean then they actually clean. Once I've got it good and thouroghly clean, Bigguy can keep his toys and books and clothes put away, until then, it's a war zone. We will be deep cleaning everything, including the bathrooms, and instituting "The Chore Wheel" probably one of the most usefull housecleaning tools.(Props to Jazz-Dad for introducing me to the chore wheel) I will have a house that is baby safe, clean, presentable, and comfortable at all times, damnit! I want to have one of those houses where people go, lets go to HW2K's house and visit, it's always clean, she always has coffee, and I bet she'll have some fresh baked goods too. I WANNA BE JUNE CLEAVER!!!!!!!

Holy Tired, Batman!!

Man, am I tired. I do not know why, I got plenty of sleep, I have been eating right, and the weather hasn't changed too drastically over the last few days. Normally I would blame the pregnancy for making me sleeping, but at this point, 18 weeks, I should be having much more energy. Maybe I have been sleeping, but not getting restfull sleep. For a long while, Hubby and I have been saying that we will be getting our "real" bed soon, as opposed to our collection of mattresses. Well, Poppa Bear just moved 6 doors down, and informed us that he and Mamma Bear have a full size bed for us with frame. Granted, it's a little bit smaller than a Queen, but it will tide us over until after tax return season, when we will have the money for a better quality of matress than what we would be getting now. I will have this fabulous, free, bed tonight or tomorrow, so I will be able to update you soon on how much your sleeping surface affects your quality of sleep, and maybe even your quantity of sleep. Also, with a better bed, I will hopefully be able to get into a possition, comfortably, that forces Baby#3 off of my bladder and my Vargas nerve, without the baby pinching my Scaitic nerve. FUNFUNFUN!!!

dear god

read this, pay close attention people, and read all the way down, where you will encounter this statement:
The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.
followed by
These weapons of mass destruction virtually ring the country, concealed off at least 11 states - six on the East Coast, two on the Gulf Coast, California, Hawaii and Alaska. Few, if any, state officials have been informed of their existence.

The chemical agents could pose a hazard for generations. The Army has examined only a few of its 26 dump zones and none in the past 30 years.

I will quit quoting from the article now. I will continue to pray that it comes to light that this is just some cruel hoax, but unfortunately, it is all to true.

Things like this are what make me fear, truly fear, for my childrens future.

breakfast this morning

My sister came over for breakfast this morning, we ate, drank coffee, and talked for a really long time. Then bigguy woke up, we talked and laughed some more, then Auntie came over, and there was more laughing and talking. All in all, it was really good. What surprised me was how many of my recolections of growing up are simmilar to hers. Sometimes, when siblings talk about ther childhood there is a bit of a "what family are you from?!" mentality, not today. We remebered, we laughed, we talked about relegion and magik and beliefs and all sorts of stuff, and we ate. There is something about eating together that brings people closer. Maybe it's because we like our eggs the same way, sunny side up, yokey, all cut up, so the yolk is blanded with everything else. You eat this by dredging butterred toast thru the yolk, place some of the whites on the toast, and eat. It is not pretty to watch. She told me a funny story about eating eggs like that in France, and her hosts shock. It rocked. I highly suggest to everyone that they sit down, soon, and eat a homemade breakfast with someone that they do not see every day.

On a different note-
Bigguy is at an age where he is testing his limits with lying, and back-talking. The backtalking is more frustrating and annaoying than anything else, because it is very logical balk talk eighty percent of the time, and the other twenty, it is so illogical as to not make any sense at all. The lying is frustrating because he will do something right in front of me, but when I call him on it, he denies it and changes the subject. We are working on cutting this particular quirk off immediatly. Littleman, in order to not be outdone, has decided to balance the utter frustration of trying not to nap anymore, or at the least force us to drastically change our schedule to the point where we don't have one anymore, with the absolute cuteness of the lopsided "kissyface". If you want to see the kissyface, look in the mirror and do a very exagerated lip pucker, as if you were going to kiss someone. Now do this with your bottom lip lightly sucked in and very, very slightly to the right.
Heart.
Meltingly.
Cute.

Telemarketters

When Hubby and I got married, I had my name legally changed. On top of the whole taking his last name thing, I hyphenated my first and middle names. I've always signed it this way, without the huphen, but with my sig, it's hard to tell if the
'-' is there or not. My name is telemarketing HELL. The first four letters, that which comprise the name pre-hyphen, are almost always mispronounced, as is the second part of my name, when free standing. They look like they should both have long vowels where the vowels are short, and short where it is long. To add to the confusion, if, say, the list where the marketers got my name from omits the hyphen(generally because I will occasionally omit it, just to mess with the list selling masses), you then have a matched set of vowels right next to each other. Two A's to be precise. No one thinks that there should be a break there, so they try to pronounce my (when hyphenated) easily four and a half to five syllable name, in three.
Heehee, years of having a funkily pronounced name have finally come out in my favor!

It's Nanowrimo!...but, not...

November is NanoWrimo-National Novel Writing Month, but, well, not for me. After thinking it over for the last few days, I have come to the conclusion that Nano just doesn't jibe with my writing style. I am more of a quality, even if it takes me a month to get the perfect paragraph, sort of person, not a quantity person. Ask any english teacher I had over the years who would become very frustrated that I was turning in 'A' papers, but only able to get a 'C-' because I waited so long to turn tham in. I very much have a perfectionist streak in me, and writing 50,000 words in a month, around everything else I do...not gonna happen. Also, I prioritiezed, and writing, though important, ranks kinda low at the moment. Marriage and Kids, then Household, then Fiber arts, with me time sprinkled in wherever for good measure. Writing for anything other than relaxation and unwinding was down somewhere with de-crumbing the toaster and cleaning under my oven. If I manage to get my book written, that I plan on eventually writing and publishing, while doing my relaxing and unwinding, Great-If not, it can wait till I have the time. My kids are only going to grow up once, and I need to be fully preasent when that happens. So, for everyone who is still doing Nano-Good luck, I hope it works for you. For those who decided not to-You are doing what is best for you, and ultimately-that is what matters.

Be good, have fun, and enjoy the little things. In a week-there won't be any color left in the trees, so go out and find the brightest red, orange, and yellow(if you can) leaves possible-press them between wax paper, wax sides together, with a low iron, and remember for years how perfect the weather was today, and that you took the time to enjoy it.

Candy!!!!

All said and done, I think the boys only hav about two pounds of candy, each. Granted, Littleman's is mostly Hubby's and Bigguy's, since they carried him and his bag, respectively, and oddly enough, Littleman got a little more loot. I think it was the cuteness factor, very little beats a 1-year-old, smiley pirate, in an eyepatch. He loves that eyepatch.
We would have stayed out longer, but for two things. 1) it was getting really, really, cold out. Especially for little hands that refused to wear mittens. 2) Many people started trick-or-treating way earlier than we did, and apparently more people were out in this area this year as compared to years past, and people were running out of candy! Nothing upsets a four-year-old as much as being told, "Sorry, I just gave away my last peice!"
Hubby decided, that due to their being "good troopers", he would hit the after Hallowe'en candy clearance sales. Did I mention that one of our roommies works retail, and we get a discount? Also, we will have tons of leftover candy coming in from the In-Laws, because the MIL feels that it is her responsibilty to try to givemy kids candy, that I will later have to hide, or throw out.....or eat.