Dodged a bullet!

I seem to have lost my mojo. I haven't had anything I felt like writing. Not that there are not lots of interesting things going on: election day, gas prices dropping, Parent-Teacher Conferences, gestating family members, cute kids..... I just have no interest in discussing any of it here. Sad, I know.

You are in luck though! Well, if you have been anxiously awaiting a post form me, you are in luck. That means maybe 2 people in the word are now happy. Whoopee! My friend Kelli (at Krazy Eights), and my friend Lenette have tagged me to list 7 quirky things about myself. 7 things, hmmmm...... I have so many....

1. I love Survivor. Okay, not so much a quirk, but I love this show. I have been known to skip Enrichment just so I won't have to miss it. Same is true of The Amazing Race. Anything else I can live without.

2. I have fat feet and high arches. Hey, it said quirky, not interesting! I have a hard time finding running shoes that fit properly. Now I save the hassle and go to the store where they fit you and watch you run and give the best fit for my foot. Do they cost more? Yep, but its cheaper than buying 5 different pairs that don't fit right.

3. I love making books. This is now my plug for blurb.com! I am doubly excited because I just ordered some books and they arrived today! SO cute! It makes me happy. And I am putting all my pictures from 2008 into a hardbound book and I can't wait for the year to be over so I can finish it. I love blurb.com! I look for excuses to make more books, because I like it so much.

4. Unlike some people (Lenette!) I have a compulsive need to make the bed in the morning. I must do it. I cannot control myself; I have to do it. I can't remember to say prayers in the morning, but by golly, my bed will get made.

5. I like moving. I hate it as well, but I like it. I like starting over where no one knows stupid stuff I've done, and no one remembers screw-ups I've made. Its also a good running-away technique. I've gotten out of dealing with so much stuff based on the fact that we moved a lot. I had to date a guy once for a month longer than I wanted to, because we were moving and I wouldn't have to break up with him then. Sad, but true.

6. I like to eat things in order. In the kids' candy bags, I will eat all the Snickers bars and then all the Twizzlers. I'll have all the Tootsie Rolls, then I'll move on to the Reeces, then the Milky Ways..... If I'm eating Skittles, I eat all of one color before I move onto the next color.

7. I must read while eating. If we are not sitting down as a family, I have to have something to read. So, aside from dinner, I need to have a book or something to peruse while I eat. The kids are picking up on that too. Joshua will bring his book to the table and ask if he can read while he eats. I'm not sure if I should be delighted that he enjoys reading, or horrified that I'm rubbing off on him that much.


I tag Savannah, Tanya & Maddie, and Wendy, so I'll have something fun to read!

Halloween bust

Last night did not go as I had expected. Sure, my pumpkins looked marvelous. They sure did turn out nice!

Don't they look great?!

And Callie had me in stitches with her funny fat monkey bottom!

The kids had a great time. Dan took them out trick-or-treating because I would only take the around the block and he wanted more candy than I'd have come home with. Joshua was Indiana Jones, Callie is the funny monkey, and Marian is the cow-girl. Believe me, I did try to get a more appropriate shirt on her, but she refused. Oh, and Delaney is behind the door having a meltdown because she's being left behind.

So, the odd thing about last night is that we had 6 people come to the door. 6! We had heard about what a great neighborhood this is and how fun it is, and all that. So I got a ton of candy. Ug. I have all the candy I got, plus another 50 pounds that the kids came home with!

Yes, it is a fabulous neighborhood to go out to get the candy, but not so good for getting rid of it. anybody interested in a few bags of crabby patties?!

Yeah, Delaney stoped being mad once she realized she could reach the candy bucket. Mom, not so pleased about it.

Pumpkin Carvin'

We had a couple pumpkins this year. I got 2 big ones and one of them rotted, so I had to replace it. Callie needed one for preschool, and she got to paint it there. That is the slightly icky looking little pumpkin below- she used lots of black paint and most of it rubbed off... so we carved it too.

Joshua really just wanted to use the knife. I did not really want to let him. He did try his hand at scooping pumpkin guts, but he didn't last long.

(Again, the black is paint!) Marian didn't realize you have to scrape to get the pumpkin goobers out, so she was not an effective helper here. She sure was cute though!

Yeah, I got stuck doing most of the work. Joshua did the littlest pumpkin- I just helped a little with the fangs. They will look marvelous all lit up tonight!

And Delaney had a little temper tantrum yesterday, so I took her picture, because that's the kind of mom I am!


See, she's not usually cranky! Since she is not going out trick-or-treating tonight, I let her wear her costume all day today. Such a cute ballerina!

Tagged by Savannah

Well, Savannah Tagged me, so I am passing it on. Mostly because I have nothing else of interest to post today.

The rules:

1. The winners put the sticky sticker of uber stickiness up on their blog to say "Look at me! Look at me! I'm COOL... or at least someone else thinks so!"

2. Then they get to link back to me.

3. Then they get to nominate a few of their own winners! Spread the love!

4. Then leave a little note on the chosen blogs so they aren't left in the dark.

Okay, I love my friends who blog. I love being able to keep in touch and see what they are up to. sometimes I am quite jealous of what they are doing without me, but life goes on. So I have had Callie randomly choose 3 blogs for me to honor here today. And the lucky winners are:

1. Jen & Chris- I must say, your last post had me laughing out loud. You have the funniest kids and I am so glad you blog so I can see what you are up to. Plus, you always have a great attitude and you are up for whatever life throws your way. You are such a strong, amazing woman and mother as well. I'm glad we're related!

2. Becky- You are the coolest person I know right now! For those of you who don't know her, Becky ran the Marine Corps Marathon this past weekend. (She stopped by to see me too, since she was in the area.) Even more amazing is the fact that she had to prepare for it with no husband (because he's in Iraq) and 5 children. Yes, she is the superest-super mom I know. I am always impressed how together you are and how much you do. You take on things that have me shaking in my shoes and you just step up and get it done with a smile. And you look fabulous.

3. Kelli- Despite the fact that you have been slacking on posting lately, I absolutely LOVE your blog. I love that you post so many pictures- that's partly because I love your children and miss them, especially the ones with attitudes. You are a great mom and I don't know how you manage to get everything done. Keep it up because I always look forward to reading your posts and I'm so sad when I have to wait. It makes my day better when I get to see what you've written. I miss you.

(I had this all nice looking, but I cannot seem to get spaces between my paragraphs! Aaargh!)

Broken or not broken?

Let's begin with a funny story. Okay, not so funny, but still slightly amusing. Callie bonked her head. She then proceeded to have a tantrum because she couldn't see a bump on it when she looked in the mirror. So she ran to her room screaming and slammed the door. Then she really started screaming, since her finger had been in the way of the door slamming. Sigh. It was funny till she hurt her finger.

This is what her pinky finger looked like. It swelled up and the knuckle area turned purple. You can't see the lovely color here, but it was. It also looked a bit crooked, but I couldn't tell if it was because it was swollen or something else.

See, it does look crooked! And slightly bruised. It really was more purple in real life. She consented to have ice on it, so it must have hurt. I put in "Cinderella" and snuggled her on the couch with her blanket and ice pack. It didn't get worse, but it didn't get better.

At 4 I woke Dan up from his nap and asked if he would take her to the ER. He agreed with surprising good nature. I packed a bag of snacks and activities and sent them off. He called at 6:30 to tell me she'd just been X-rayed. Then nothing. 8pm rolled around and I partly watched "The Amazing Race". Still nothing. 10pm came around and I finally called the ER. The abrupt lady said they were on their way home. After she hung up I thought maybe I should have asked how long ago!

It was 10:15 before they came home. Nearly 6 hours!!!! Ug. Callie was asleep and Dan took her right to bed. I asked how it went, sonce she had a ig purple wrap on her finger. He said, "Not broken". That's all he said. They were gone for 6 hours and all he says is, "Not broken." ?!!

Here she is today, wearing purple lip gloss and chocolate chip muffins on her face. I did force Dan to tell me more, but getting info from him was like pulling teeth. They waited a lot, the ER was busy (note to self, if the kid's not screaming and/or gushing blood, don't go!), they waited some more, They got x-rayed, they waited, the doctor gave them a tube of bacitracin, they waited, they came home. Now I am a little confused still as to why the doctor gave them the bacitracin. She wasn't bleeding! At least, not when she left the house, who knows what happened once they got to the hospital. Dan's theory was that the doc didn't want them to walk away empty-handed after such a long wait. Hmmm, nice consolation prize!

So, Callie has a sore finger, but she is going to live. In the future, when I do NOT go to the ER and it turns out I should have, please remember this posting and know that there was a reason!