October It is.....

What a beautiful fall day :)

My kids are inside watching a movie. Yep. Well, for what it's worth I had intended for them to be outside today. And they were outside until lunchtime. They played in the yard, and Ardyn played outside at preschool. But after lunch, they both wanted to watch the Winnie the Pooh movie, and although I thought about pushing them back out the door, I realized that the movie might be a good wind down to naptime, and violin practice, and it would also allow me to dump the 4000 photos and videos that are on my iPhone and making it full. And switch the laundry and such. I spent the whole beautiful day yesterday inside (although the windows were open) because I am really trying to get caught up on regular housework and get some serious clutter under control. I have been working on our bedroom for several days now. I have cleared out my bookshelf, and Evan's dresser, and my jewelry armoire, and 94% of the floor and a good portion of laundry baskets and hampers of clean clothes. I still have two that need to be packed away (too small clothes of the kids) and one of kid clothes that needs put in their dressers yet. But even those need to be reorganized. Oy. I have been trying to sell pants and jeans of mine that are too small, I have sold all but seven of 17 pair of pants. I bought myself one new pair to replace them :)

My sock drawer needs gone through again, and my underwear drawer. So little time!

Fall weather gets me in the cleaning mode, plus the fact that I am hosting Bunco next week means that I need to find some horizontal surfaces to have room for everyone in this little place. I still need to go buy the food ingredients and also the prizes, which I think I might get this weekend while I am on the Spoon River Scenic Drive with my mom. I am so looking forward to that. But first I must get through this week, which includes getting the house picked up before the cleaning ladies come on Friday. There is also a PJWC meeting Thursday night, but I don't know if I am going yet or not. There just seems to be a TON going on.

Today I finished painting a footed bowl for my friend EA. She is part of a Race for the Cure team and is doing a large fundraiser in a couple of weeks, and asked if I would hand paint a piece of pottery that could be auctioned off at the fundraiser. I worked on it last week and finished it today, while Ardyn was in school. It was fun for me because I didn't have to pay for it, and she watched Marek so I could go while Ardyn was in school. It was like "me time" in most regards. I can't wait to see it finished, it's hard to tell what it is going to look like when it is unfired. If you have never painted pottery before, the paint colors are dull and chalky looking and most of them don't even look like the finished color, so that leaves a lot to the imagination. I sure hope it's pretty.

After school the kids and and I came home and collected a BUNCH of eggs. I think Gloria might be laying again, and now I think BOTH pullets (young hens) are laying. There were 5 eggs in the last 30 hours or so, and we were lucky enough to see ONE of them being laid first hand. One of the younger hens was pacing around the bunny hutch, and you may know that we have recently found an egg on two separate occasions, inside the bunny's nest box. The chickens fly into the attached run on the front of the bunny hutch (which has an open top) and then they settle in the bunny hutch to lay in the nest box. it's so much like theirs, and lined with the same pine bedding, they just feel at home. The bunny is not terribly fond of it. She doesn't seem to mind the chickens themselves, even when they are in the hutch with her. It's the foreign oval object in her nest box that terrifies her. She won't even go IN the hutch if there is an egg in there.

So today we watched the hen fly over the top and go right into the bunny nest box and start to make herself a nest. Then I even caught the laying off the egg on video, and the kids saw it, which was pretty cool.

While we were watching the hen in the nest box, Briar Bunny was in the other side of her hutch watching, and Licorice (the wild bunny that escaped) hopped inside the fence to check out what all the fuss was about. Talk about crazy!

Although it's a beautiful day and I have a ton to accomplish, I am seriously thinking about taking a nap with the kids today. Partially because I know Ardyn won't take one because she will be busy peeking out her windows (and if she lays down with me I can prevent that) and partially because I am tired. I stayed up late last night working in my room on the dressers. It takes forever because they seem to be landing place for all kinds of confiscated items, and all kinds of things the kids lay up there. Like hair clips. There must be 5000 hair clips around this place. Ardyn takes them off wherever and hands them to me or sits them on the dresser, and then I find them as I uncover the layers of crap that get stacked there.

I also went through all my DVD's and put them into a DVD organizer (a binder style one just like this one) that I have had for exactly EIGHT MONTHS but have yet to take out of the package and take the time to organize the DVDs. Yep. That's how my life is. So I finally say down yesterday and took all the DVDs out of their cases and put them into the binder. I really like it. It is a pretty THICK binder, but it does take up less space than all the DVDs did. I decided that I do need a few more movies, I only have the first two Harry Potter movies, which the kids started watching, and I also only have the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Plus the Bourne movies are some of my favorites and I love to watch them over again, and would love to have all of them on DVD. I keep the kids DVDs in a separate binder that is smaller and doesn't hold liner notes. I just keep the cases in the same cabinet that holds all the VHS tapes. But with mine, I didn't have room or the desire to keep the cases.

I went to JoAnn this past weekend to grab the plastic for the dining room table. About once a year I use a 50% or 40% off coupon to buy the heavy 16-18 gauge plastic to cover my tablecloths. If I don't cover them, the kids have them destroyed in no time. the last piece of plastic I bought cost me about $14 and lasted me almost a whole year. it would have lasted the whole year had Ardyn not decided to stick foam gingerbread stickers onto it. Those foam things are EVIL. They do NOT come off. So anyway, I had a cool fabric halloween tablecloth that I had bought on clearance last fall, and I wanted to use it but didn't DARE until I got more plastic. When I was there they also had a tie-dye fleece print that I hadn't seen on sale for about 3.5 years. I was super excited and it was 40% off so I got 2 yards to make a blanket with. Of course, they were out of the coordinating orange anti-pill so I have to go back another time to get that other side of the blanket. I was frustrated because they had ELEVEN bolts of Orange Blizzard fleece, but no anti-pill. Sounds like an ordering mishap if you ask me.

They had their paper stacks (like DCWV) on sale for $9.99 instead of $19.99 and I was excited because I wanted to see the "performance stack," which is new, in person. It has lots of musical and violin papers, but they were almost all GOLD and I was kinda like eeeew. the paperstack wasn't as impressive as I wanted to be, and the few papers that I really did like can be purchased separately on scrapbook.com, so when the time comes I will just do that instead.

I have more I could say, but my wrists are bugging me (ala carpal tunnel) and the iPhone still has 97 videos to upload, so I will just call it quits here for now. Look out for the egg laying video, which I will try to get posted today, hopefully here, but at least on facebook if I can.

Spooky!!

Fall Food

Listening: REO Speedwagon The HITS (another thing learned from my dad)
Wearing: Black Ballet Style Shirt, Khaki Pants, Puppy Dog Socks, and Mary janes. Straight Hair. Link: Fall Photos from around home

Last night was a very "fall-like" night. we peeled/cored/and sliced 30 cups of apples. I made two batches of apple crisp and some wheat beer bread with Budweiser. Yum!

I have a "fall" swap, I have everything ready to send. The only thing I didn't put in the picture is my handmade item. I need to package that up and get it mailed off to Germany.

I am happy today is Thursday.... but I don't have a HNT Photo. I suck. Oh well. I guess with all the Apple slicing, bread baking, and apple crisp making, I have an excuse, right?

One of the other things that makes me all excited for fall? My Tastefully Simple Order Arrived on the back porch yesterday, and now I have a sample of "Oh My Chai" tea and "Hazelnut Hot Chocolate." I am totally ready to curl up with a hot mug and a good book. I am just to the end of Rebecca Wells Ya-Yas in Bloom. So far it's been a really good book. But really, it isn't a page turner. It's lots of little stories, so when I finish a chapter, I don't feel the urge to continue like you would with a regular book, because you already know the end to that little story. It's good, but it has taken me much longer to read it than it usually would.... because I am not dying to get to the end. I had a hell of a time getting to sleep last night, I was still awake at 3am, even though I lay down at 1:30. It was annoying and it was really pissing me off. Then of course this morning I did NOT want to get up, since I was all sleepy and snuggled in.

Well, I can't think of a whole lot else to say today. Just your regular day. no profound realizations, no big purchases, no driving success stories. Just another day. I guess I could have some "Oh My Chai" or perhaps just a DQ Pumpkin Pie Blizzard since they just got them in. Mmmm. I hope that we can have some nights filled with relaxing and playing games with friends. I love fall.

Grab the Cannon by the Balls, Savvy?

If you know me, you know I like Pirates. And of course the Pirates of the Caribbean with dashing figures such as will turner and jack sparrow (haven't I always loved johnny? oh yessss I have!) just makes me all the more pleased. For a few years I have followed International Talk like a Pirate Day. They are my Flickr friends. And everyone knows Flickr is SO Much cooler than MySpace...

And today, I am thrilled to share with you...

On an upcoming episode of Wife Swap, Mad Sally (wenchy wife to the International Talk Like a Pirate Day Co-Founder Ol' Chumbucket Baur) is swapped with what she describes as a "a rigidly ordered, controlled and controlling family who, I swear on Great Neptune's man nipples, actually lives by the credo, "appearance is everything." They actually said, "You judge a book by its cover." The episode airs on September 18th, Fittingly, the day before September 19th, wich IS International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

I fully intend to NOT miss that episode. September 18th. Mark your calendar or ye shall walk the plank fer shor. I'll be back and we will blog about Mad Sally's experience, here on this very page, on September 19th, International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

I want you to know that I am, as I am typing, rapping along to Beastie Boys' Rhymin' and Stealin' because I know every word, I love the Beastie Boys, and it's the perfect piratey good song. Check our Mad Sally's account of her experience on wife swap. If she's mad, she is a Madly Literate and well versed lady. And a Great writer. She should blog on the International Talk Like A Pirate Day Website, if you want my opinion.

Or, if you really want to get prepared, Watch the videos so that you know just how to act and talk like a pirate on September 19th (or if you are me, any other time the feeling might strike ya.) Have you gave any thought as to how you might answer the phone at work that day? Or what about other questions? Well, you can just Ask Capn' Slappy. Got Kids? Well, we should ALL know how to sing the Pirate Song.... your kids will LOVE you for this! Or why not teach them how to Swagger? It's all about pirattiude. And whatever you do, don't forget the Five A's.

Thank God for TIVO

I am loving this cool weather. Fall is my FAVORITE season, and my favorite holidays are Halloween and Thanksgiving, so I am starting to hit my peak. It's like my annual peak season. I've got the fall wreath up, and a pumpkin, and soon it will be time to decorate OUTSIDE the house. Think cornshock, hay bale, Scarecrow, and Pumpkins and Mums, like 2004. Or perhaps wayyy back in the archives to 2003 when Pooches LOVED pumpkins.

Fall! Fall! Fall!

I have been eyeballing, for a long long long time, dark orange colored plates. Just the dinner plates. To use at Thanksgiving and put in the dining room hutch I will someday have. But everytime I see some, it's like $160 for 12 plates. So last night I was in Wal-Mart and they had them for $2.46 a piece, so I put 13 of them on layaway, and it will cost me THIRTY ONE DOLLARS. Awesome.

I also bought myself a cute lightweight reversible jacket for $22.00, since I haven't bought a new coat in about.... 5 years.... and it only cost $22.00 It's pink and black, sorta windbreaker fabric, with a pink fleece lining and a hood. AND it's reversible so it's a fleece jacket too! Sweet!

So last night I watched TV in bed with two People magazines and a bag of Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Now THAT is what I call a night.

I was seeing all the previews for the new fall line-up shows, and Desperate Housewives is claiming to have "regained" the fire and drama that they had in season 1 and lost in season 2. Grey's Anatomy is now going up against CSI... but I haven't really watched the regular CSI in a while, unless it was a rerun on cable. I love CSI Miami though. I LOVED Conviction last year (eric Balfour, yummy!) but it's been axed for this season. Not that you care, but Shows I TIVO?

Desperate Housewives
Grey's Anatomy
Family Guy
American Dad
The Simpsons
Girls Next Door
CSI Miami
The War at Home
Law and Order
Law and Order SVU
Crossing Jordan
Mind of Mencia
Men in Trees
The New Adventures of Old Christine

I am a crime drama/law and order/CSI freak. I love that shit. I have watched Law and Order reruns like there is NO tomorrow. I watched two last night alone. There's that one new show on, that is supposed to be the "best new show on television..." and I can't remember what it is. Argh! I thought that I would set it to TIVO and see what happens.

Really I shouldn't even say TIVO, since that is a brand name, and we have DVR (digital video recording), but I am afraid if I just say DVR you won't know what I am talking about.

If I could keep up with more shows, I would go back to TIVO-ing Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Moral Oral, and Pee-Wee's Playhouse. But I just don't have time to watch ALL of that. LOL.

And did you KNOW that I could be a writer for the New York Times? I came across this article today where they said the show Men in Trees is like "Sex and the City meets Northern Exposure" (It's by the writers of Sex and the City) and I was like HELL-O? Did I NOT just say Northern Exposure? I thought so. Do you suppose the Times has a need for an Illinois freelance writer? LOL.

Another show I sort of wondered about, if only for it's delightfully politically incorrect title, is ABC's Ugly Betty. But I get this "She's all that" vibe (pretty girl made "ugly and smart" for a movie/television role gets made pretty again when she falls in love with the football star/prom king/etc.) and while I enjoy feel good romantics, I am SO not in high school anymore and I have enough GOOD shows to watch as it is that I am really not interested.

And (shoot me now) I have never seen the Movie Friday Night Lights. Maybe I feel like it hits a little too close to home, now that all the annoying Bureau Valley parents take over the bar in prep for football season, and annoyingly make us all watch homemade montage DVD's with clips of last year's football games set to music like "Riding the Storm Out" and "We Will Rock You." We all sit there at the end of the bar where the sane people are, and look at them incredulously. It's like CAN YOU see YOURSELVES? Is football THE Most important thing in your family's life? Can't you watch this in your living room? It's one thing to be proud of your kid. It's a good thing. But if you weren't shoving it down our throats before the new season even began, we might even be proud of him too. But jeez. I loved football season. My husband played. My friends played. But it was more fun being Manlius/Tampico Red Warriors than it ever was being "Bureau Valley Storm." Mostly because it got to be more about "how much do our uniforms cost" and "how many different t-shirts can we sell with our logo on it" than WOW you guys did AWESOME out there. It became more about the cheerleaders and the parents than the players themselves. I don't know anymore.

I am planning on going to the Bureau Valley homecoming game this year. It's my 10 year class reunion that weekend, and we are hoping that they will call out our class so that we can go onto the field at halftime. If it means anything, I hope that they can look at us, the first EVER graduating class of Bureau Valley (1996), and realize that the school was formed with much different ideas than it has now. It was formed to offer more classes and opportunities to all students. It wasn't about having new uniforms. It was about art classes and agriculture and foreign language. A newspaper and community involvement. It was about a BETTER EDUCATION!

We all came together and made new friends. And most importantly, I hope that it says to these stupid parents living vicariously through their children, that THERE IS LIFE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL and don't you god damn ever forget it. High School Football will not be the most entire thing your kid ever does. So make sure that your kids are doing their homework and passing their classes! Teach them how to be involved in their family and their community.

So that aside, I am intrigued by the fall TV version of Friday Night Lights. Honestly, I wouldn't have given it a second look if it hadn't been for Kyle Chandler playing their coach. That guy, he's awesome. I remember way back when he was Jeff Metcalf on the show Homefront. I used to love that show. When he showed up as the bomb guy on Grey's Anatomy, I almost swooned to the floor. All I wanted was for him to get together with Meredith. Fuck McDreamy. Kyle Chandler is HOT. So that said, I might TIVO an episode and just see what I think. But I don't think I can stomach it without comparing someone in the show to some egotistical Bureau Valley fan.

When I was in High School, I would have compared "Friday Night Lights" to Annawan. We hated Annawan. They were the ONLY team we wanted to beat. They were cocky. They thought they were perfect. All their cheerleaders and girlfriends looked like they would have a career in playboy. We ALWAYS, for generations, said there was something in the water over there. And I made lots of friends from Annawan in FFA, but I tell you, they were COCKY football players. I remember every single game we played against them, VIVIDLY. I remember how they used to ring that damn bell after every game they won and then one year we (not me directly, but someone from our school) drove over there and stole the bell. It was great.

Typical High School Football Rivalry. But the way Bureau Valley is now, it's sickening. Even Annawan didn't come close to the behaviour of Bureau Valley. Actually people around here are likening the Bureau Valley fans and players to those of Hall High School, where 90% of the athletes shoot steroids and 99% of the parents, teachers, and school administration look the other way. It's tough. Because how do you show someone who is that caught up that they are overreacting and "THIS IS ONLY HIGH SCHOOL. IT'S NOT LIFE!!!"

So, enough of that rant. If this doesn't give you something to comment about, nothing will.

And I suppose there is a chance I could attract some 'roid rage from some hall fans, or perhaps sone drunk Bureau Valley parents, But I will take that chance.

And P.S. - I have ALWAYS hated cheerleaders. If you think the only reason they spread their legs is for the splits, you're kidding yourself.