eight really random new month musings.

1.  It's November.
So you know what that means.
You'll blink two times and it will be New Year's Eve.
The rest of the year seems to be on fast-forward, don't you think?

2. I didn't make my #41milesinoctober goal.  Shin splints and busy schedules did a number on me.
I'm bummed...but I'll try again for November.
With new shoes.
I hear that good shoes help with shin splints.

3.  I don't like scary movies.  At all.
But I'll usually watch one or two on Halloween.
The scariest of them all?
Halloween.
Michael Myers...Jamie Lee Curtis...babysitting kids alone on Halloween...and...
THE MUSIC.
The music is the best and worst.  It's so scary.
But this year I fell asleep on the couch watching Survivor.
I guess my date with Michael Myers will have to wait till next year.

4.  We had a LOT of big kid trick-or-treaters this year.
Avery and I came home to pass out candy around 7:15,
while Gary and the boys kept going around with friends.
Maybe all of the little kids had come much earlier,
because a lot of these kids were bigger than me.
But I don't mind too much.
I like when kids don't feel like they're too cool to dress up.
But please, high schoolers, if you're going to trick-or-treat...dress up.
And not as slutty nurses, please.

5.  The kids' costumes were entirely homemade this year.
I think that's a first.
I made Avery's Hello Kitty ears, tutu, and iron-on shirt.
Gary made the boys' Minecraft box heads.



Pretty easy.
And they were happy trick-or-treaters that night.

6.  I'm in a blogging slump.
I haven't been feeling very inspired...or inspiring...lately.
I had a case of the blogging blahs in October,
but November is a new month.
A big hazelnut latte cheers to that.

7.  Trader Joe's pumpkin pancake and waffle mix
is one of the best parts of fall.
Especially when the waffles are topped with apple or pumpkin butter.
This is my grandma's waffle iron.
She would be so thrilled to know I use it to make waffles for my kids.



8.  I know I've mentioned if before,
but I'm officially obsessed with the show "Homeland".
You must get season one on DVD immediately.
It's so so good.

I think that's all.
Happy weekend, friends.

shiny happy pumpkins.

Okay, first things first:
do you watch Homeland?
It is SO GOOD.
It's in the second season right now,
but the first season is on Netflix.
Watch it...but beware of the f word.
Lots and lots of f words.
I guess when you're hunting terrorists and dealing with matters of national security
you need to drop an f bomb or 27.

********************

Second: my crazy Costco story:
the other day I was pushing my cart through Costco,
minding my own business.
I had veggies...fruit...milk...and a bunch of flannel sheets in my cart.
A random girl came up to me and said,
"i notice you have a lot of organic items in your cart.
but you should know...that milk that your'e buying is PUMPED FULL of antibiotics.
it's really bad."
And she raised her eyebrows as if to say..."what do you think about THAT?"

Hmmm.
Well...
a few things come to mind.
I know organic is better.
I've read In Defense of Food
and seen Food, Inc. and Forks Over Knives and feel pretty educated about food issues.
I do my best to buy and make "real food" for my family instead of processed stuff.
BUT.
We do have a food budget.
And while I do buy organic milk some of the time...
sometimes I don't.
It's hard to pay $5.79 for one gallon of milk,
when one gallon of milk goes pretty quickly with three kids.

While I'm sure her intention was good,
I'll say that I wouldn't ever dream of telling someone what they should be buying.
The closest I've come here is suggesting you shred your own cheese instead of buying it pre-shredded.
And if that was bossy...I'm sorry.
People need to make their own choices that are best for their family and their budget.
And if her budget dictates organic milk 100% of the time,
well then that's great.
But if, when her one baby gets older and is joined by two more,
then I hope she'll be okay with the fact that there may be times she'll buy non-organic milk.
{which does say on the box that it's not from cows treated with the hormone RBST, but whatever.}
And then perhaps she'll be too busy to stop random strangers at Costco
to give them recommendations as to what they should be buying.

********************

Okay!  Rant over.
On to fun things.

I recently saw on Pinterest
Meg's pretty pumpkins she painted last year.
I wanted happy pumpkins on my porch, too.
I used 40% off coupons at Michaels to pick up the styrofoam pumpkins
so I can keep them year after year.



The acryllic craft paint from Michaels or Joann's or wherever works fine on them.

Avery painted her own pumpkin.
She chooses rainbow colors these days, every time.





I love them.
The front of the house looks so cheery.







I smile when I see them.
And...it's a little cathartic painting pumpkins, I have to say.
You should try it.

10.31.2011

I am so happy that the Halloween craziness is almost over.
Between trunk-or-treat,
and class parties,
and trick-or-treating,
there is an insane amount of candy and chocolate
floating around my house.
I think the candy fairy might have to pay us a visit.

This Halloween we spent the day with Ariel,

Lego Luke Skywalker,

and a Lego rockstar.

Gary spent a little over a month working on the Lego costumes.
Is it obvious that when he was a kid
he wanted to be a movie model maker?
{i'll post some pics of the process another time.}

I think they all look pretty amazing.

Tonight we trick-or-treated with friends.
I was tired and ready to go home around 8:00,
but the kids just kept going and going.
I think we finally quit around 8:45.

The kids' big excitement of the night?
Scoring full-size Starburst and Twix bars.
Those are the cool houses.
Not those of us that give out the fun size bars.

Now everyone has crashed
and is sleeping off their sugar highs.

They don't have school tomorrow,
and we still have one more Halloween event to come.
Then Halloween 2011 is going down in the record books.

Can you believe tomorrow is November 1st?
Unbelievable.
Fastest year in history.

'twas the weekend before halloween...

I am not a fan of scary movies at all.
One summer my brother and I rented The Exorcist
from our town's video store
and I was scarred for life.

But I can tolerate a few.
I think we stumble upon and watch the original Halloween every year.
{scariest music E-V-E-R.}

But last night it was this one:

Movie buffs:
name that movie!

But as creepy as that is,
I think the fun size Snickers bars
in the bowl on my kitchen counter may even be scarier.

They are eeeeeeevil.

today at home.

Avery and I stayed home for most of the day today.
It felt good to have time at home,
even if I did have a headache and do a ton of laundry.
I like my house in the fall.

Dinner was chicken tortilla soup.
I love the crock pot.

A project in the works.
Possibly my next entry in the Pintertest Kitchen?

Leftover soup for lunch.
{guess i'm on a soup kick.}
Chicken broth, potatoes, squash, garbanzo beans,
and chard.
I know...chard?
I got chard in my farm box last week and I actually used some of it.
It was a proud moment for me.

Aren't those cool?
They are old dead blooms from
my friend Joy's aloe tree.
I think they look part beachy/part Halloween-y.

These guys have a date with the carving knife tomorrow.

Paint choices and window coverings
are a thorn in my side.
Just when I think I have things figured out...
I change my mind.
Argh!

There seem to be Lego's in every corner of our house.
I bought a few old printers trays several years ago
and my hunch was right: they're the perfect size for mini-figures.
{one of the other trays i bought is in the entry way picture above.}

And one more sneak peek of the
Crazy Halloween Costumes of 2011.

I probably gave it away.
:)

***************

updated to add:

I think John Rambo might be having a bad day.

{see comments}

And after reading all of his reasons to boycott American women

I would just like to say, on behalf of all American women,

what a relief. 

And...sorry, international gals.

He's all yours. 

for you: a little dose of pastel.

First, thank you all for your prayers for Giselle.
I know her family feels them, and appreciates them.
And I appreciate you.

*******************

Now...I'm in the mood for some silly.

This past weekend we went to a friend's Halloween party.
I present to you: bridesmaids.

Please don't be jealous of the sleeves.
Or the tan pantyhose.
Or the white sandals.
Or the pastels.
Or the baby's breath in our hair.
Or the blue eye shadow.

Wow.  There's a lot there to be jealous of.

I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of our husbands.
They were Napoleon Dynamite, Kip (Napoleon's brother), and Pedro.
Gary was Pedro.
One of the best movies ever.
"Do the chickens have large talons?"
I love it!
{by the way, i was horrified at the number of people at the party who hadn't seen the movie,
please, if you are one of the unfortunate, do yourself a favor and see it immediately.}

We all went to dinner like that before the party.
One woman really - like, really - thought we were just coming from a wedding.
Could you imagine?!?

We won honorable mention for best group costume.
{we lost to the jersey shore guidos.  argh...guidos!}

Oh, and those dresses?
$30 for all three on eBay.
Yeah, buddy.

And I would like to take the time to publicly thank
whoever is responsible for determining that pantyhose
are no longer necessary.
Bless you.



*******************

And on a somewhat related note,
take a minute to read Joy the Baker's thoughts
on Halloween costumes.
Words to live by. :)

So Say We

The little piggy says dressing up is fun, I like my hooves.


Jango Fett says he wishes costume parades and class parties that involve huge sugar cookies covered in orange frosting and sprinkles should be a weekly event.


Spiderman says mnfphgrnphmgrmth (his mouth is full of candy, he can't talk right now).


Mommy says she's tired and is glad this day comes only once a year.