Went Out last night

Went out last night with some friends from work. Well actually almost every friend I have at work was there. We went to a bar that was having a Halloween party. The band was mediocre. They were called 1988, which is the year I graduated. They played hits from that time, but only rock and roll. G&R, Kiss, Bon Jovi, you get the idea. They looked the part for sure. But they weren't all that talented (actually the lead singer was pretty good) but they weren't very together. The best tune they did all night was Ratt, Round and Round from the Out of the Cellar album (which I got for Christmas from my parents in 1984 (or was it 85). Anyway, they did a great job with that one, and it was my favorite song for a long time (a long time ago) so I appreciated it. My friends Heather and Luke won first place, I won't tell you about their costumes, but I'll post a pic as soon as I can. My friends all had cameras going all night. So I'm dog sitting while my mom attends her sister's funeral. That hasn't gone all that well. I decided to take their dog back to their house on Saturday, and then I had to go back every 8 hours or so and let her out etc.
That was wierd, as I was trying to get under the picture and continue typing, I found that somehow I had put it on here about 10 times. Strange. This laptop though, can mess with me at times. So Luke is here helping my husband with the polebarn. I am feeding him dinner tonight as a small payback for his time.
I hope my parents will arrive soon. I last took their dog outside around 12 today, but I'm expecting them in around 8 or 9 pm. So with any luck I won't be driving to thier house tonight. Also, my mom watches the kids, so I hope she gets home in time to sleep before the ratrace starts over.
Tonight we are having pot roast, some leftover baked ziti, salad, dinner rolls, and possibly some zuchinni if I get up the energy to do that. My mother in law bought some brownies at the store and contributed that for our dessert.
The kids and I went to Heather's house and were in a small Halloween parade today. It was nice. Only bad side was that my girls were a little tired, but what else is new? I had a nice time last night, and I also learned that I am unable to determine when Heather has had too much to drink. Luke suggested that to me and I said, "Oh no, I think she's just really tired." Found out she was puking in the wee hours, shows how much I know. I've seen her drunk plenty of times but this didn't remind me of any of those. Weird. Visit Heather's dream blog (link on the left) to see if she had any funny-alcohol-induced-dreams.

80! Not bad.

Welcome to my 80th post. Who knew I'd keep going?
The room party was good, The Krispie Treats went over well. Carved pumkins last night and took some pics (but will post soon, too lazy to dwnld them tonight). My Aunt passed away last night. My mom's older half sister. She lived her life in Ky and Tenn. so I hardly knew her at all. Still I am sad for my mom because it is her sister and they grew up together and all. I'm dog-sitting while my parents drive down (7-8hrs) and back for the sevice and burrial and all. My Aunt was almost 70 but has been ill for 1/2 her lifetime so this is actually a ripe old age given her circumstances.
Work is hell. I am on the most F'd up project of my 13 years with the company. There is no leaership no organization, nothing. I'm fed up! Found the bad wolf. Don't know much about why he disappeared or why he started a new blog. Just glad to have him back.
Phil (who I think I 'met' through Tom's blog) has been flirting with me on the comments. Got to say I love the attention. I'm so pathetic. Emma talks about it a lot on her blog. The way we are constantly trying to affirm ourselves. Our egos seeking the compliments and attention always. In fact Chris Rock did a great bit about how "WOMEN NEED COMPLIMENTS!" Which cracks me up. Homer S. did one too. And that billy joel song "Tell her about it" from the 80's... that really sums it all up. Anyway, thanks to Phil and to Owen of course.
So, my parents were going to sit for the kids tomorrow, but in light of the recent events, they will be in Ky. and unable to assist. I'm hoping my mother-in-law might be free to come over for a few hours. Just so my costume can make it out of the house (i think it's gonna be cool).
So, HAPPY 80TH to MARY BLOGS! I've slowed down so much that it may be two more years till I doub le that.

Time Honored Traditions

So, I am hosting a party for my daughter's Kindergarten class for Halloween (or Fall Harvest as the politically correct would say). So I called her teacher to plan and was told that we had wheat, egg and peanut allergies to work around! So much for brownies. So I settled on Rice Krispie treats. It will be great, I thought. I will cut them with a Pumpkin cookie cutter, frost little happy Pumpkin faces on them. The kids will love it. Well, Martha Stewart I'm not. My husband laughed at the treats, calling them Halloween Ovals. Yes, the time honored tradtion of the Halloween Oval! The problem is that with the coarseness of the krispie treat, you lose the little details of the stem and the ridges in the pumpkins. Oh well, and as for the faces, I felt so deafeated by the shape, that I put some orange and black sprinkles on them and called it a night. It was a fun night too, as the kids watched the Peanuts special and I cranked out Krispie Treats like a madwoman. They taste really good, that's what matters right?
I've had some successes with creative treats in the past, but my lack of planning and procrastination sometimes does me in. Here's a treat I made for the department 'goodie day' last year.
And here is another one of some cookies I made last year (try to ignore the lack of makeup or hairstyle in this one). By the way the cookies looked fabulous and tasted pretty iffy, the pinecone however was delicious, It was a spicy cheeseball with almond coating. The cookie centers are made with crushed life savers which melt and form the 'glass'. Pretty crafty huh?
Okay so does anyone have a clue what happened to Tom? I need to get to work, maybe I'll blog again soon.

Halloween of the past

Here's me in 1999, you can't tell, but I am about 2 weeks post conception here! My costume was Hi Ho Silver because I have joints in my hair and I'm dressed like a Ho, I know kinda lame but it looks pretty cool (I think) Took me awhile to get ready. That's Jimi Hendrix you see lurking in the background. Anyone got any ideas for me and the husband???

He's on to me.

So last night at dinner (pizza, I really needed a break) my husband says "Thanks for the pizza, sometimes I think I'd starve if you didn't feed me." My eyes got big and round as my face flushed. We both laughed, but I felt a little bit funny. You probably don't know that I have tried to keep my blog address to myself. Not sure why exactly. It's not as if I come on here and rant about him or anything. Yes I whine a lot about general things and sometimes he is somewhere in there. But it wasn't like I was afraid to have him read it. The thing is, my husband can write. I mean, it's hard to describe it. He has written so many things that have either made me laugh or made me cry. But the point is he is certainly more of a wordsmith than I could ever hope to be. While I feel that I am an above average conversationalist (and I'm cringing when I think of G reading this later as he might disagree), I can't write the way I think. Or the way I speak, or the way I wish I could write. I love to read and I have a better vocabulary than most people I know. But this is just a journal, and not a great literary piece. I have always been funny about doing anything that I don't think I'm really good at. And while I don't feel I am a good writer, I do enjoy the blogging, and the blog community when I have time.

So I guess this is kinda my thing. And I feel like, I guess I almost feel like he read my diary. Although if this were a true diary (with all my crazy thoughts, feelings, fantasies, and dreams poured out) I would have kept it entirely anonymous and I would have been sure to conceal it better. Anyway, sweetie, if you are reading this, I think you are great! But I don't know if I like having you on my blog...

We've been invited to a Halloween party. Who's got great costume ideas? In the past we have made our own. Any ideas?

Would you like me to warm up your sausage?

I asked my husband that the other night, referring to the leftover Italian sausage he was planning to eat for dinner. Only after I said it did I realize how funny that sounded. And yes, I am like a 50's housewife in some ways. Sometimes I think he'd die if I wasn't there to feed him and all.

Anyway, I got to work early (which really means on time for a change) and thought I might actually have time to do a post here. Of course when I tried to get my blog Internet Explorer seemed very confused. And again I had to change my proxy settings. WTF? Don't these managers know I have blogging to do?

Last night my Kindergartener was doing homework (I know that is a crime isn't it?) but she had to draw some things as part of her homework. Well suddenly she has taken this huge leap from wiggly stick figures to really recognizable and even good drawings. I was happy for her because I think the more things she finds she can do, the more confident she will become. And to me it's all about self esteem with girls. It's the best defense against making really bad choices in life. She drew her toy Penny ( a dalmation dog) and it was really really good. Anyway since she had missed a day of school she had 6 homework assignments to turn in on Thursday.

I'm looking for a book to read. I can't find anything to watch on TV when I'm trying to spin down at night. I was watching a program about Auschwitz? The other night and I thought I might start reading some books about that. Not history books, but books writing by people who survived, things like that. Then I thought maybe Mein Kampf. Has anyone read it? Sounds scary yet fascinating. My sister told me she thought it would be hard to read. She's a master of the obvious, but she's also more fragile than I. I don't think it's good for her to read about anything truly bad. But I am fascinated by the morbid. Which is why I settled on Court TV watching forensic files. Love that show. On a lighter note, I also caught most of The Office. That is hilarious. The awkward Halloween dress up at the office. It's the best.

So now, to work.

Tell me it isn't Sunday night already.

The thought of going to work tomorrow... it's so disheartening. Anyway, I had to take Friday off work cause my mom couldn't sit for the kids. We've had a busy weekend. But we've had a lot of fun. My older daughter conquered her fears by trying ballet class again. She did it for 1.5 years, then suddenly was overcome with shyness or something. She hasn't taken a class since May. Meanwhile, sissy turned 3 and took her first class this fall. So the older one has been dragged in there to wait in the lobby 1 hr every saturday. Well, we (the hubby and I ) knew that she really loves that class and the teacher. We don't care if our kids are dancers, or any of the other activities. But we both hate to see her sit back and watch her sister do something, wishing she wasn't so afraid. So we kinda pushed her a little. But it was worth it. My eyes teared up several times during the 1 hr she was dancing. She couldn't have smiled any bigger. She kept waving and giving us the thumbs-up. I was hoping we were doing the right thing, now I know. Today we went out and bought her a new leotard. She can't wait for next week.
Well this is short, but it's dinner time, and there is no rest for the weary!

I opened my door, and In flu enza!

Well, my older child became violently ill this morning right after I left the house. This is weird because just before that she was in an awesome mood. She was well rested and happy and had just finished breakfast. She has vomited several times since then and my husband is home with her right now.
This means my 3 year old will soon be doing it also. Yuck! It makes me sad that I am not with my daughter when she is feeling so bad. It is kind of nice thought that my husband is caring for her because it gives them some time together. Plus, my kids are so used to me taking care of them when the feel like this. It's good for her to know her Dad can take really good care of her and be sympathetic in these situations too.
I'm feeling a little bit hinky myself. I wonder if I'm about to start being sick. I guess I should call my mom, who's got the 3 year old, and warn her about the situation!
I actually watched an entire movie last night on DVD. This is odd because I would say since 2000 I have probably watched no more then 10 movies! I am so out of it and all my friends seem to be huge movie buffs. I hate that I never know what they are talking about. Or who for that matter because I am consequently out of the loop with Hollywood too. This was called Blood Work starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Daniels. I'm no critic, but I wouldn't recommend this one. The story is kinda cool, but the acting and producing is not so good. And I am always inclined to give Clint the benefit of the doubt. I love him.

Arrrggghhhhh

I know you have never done this, but if you go back a few years, to when I first created this blog you will see a lot of bitching about trying to sleep in my mad house.
Last night was just like those days. Back then I had a very old/sick doggie and two very tiny kids and a puppy. So things have changed a bit, but still.
My older daughter had a nightmare just before 4:00am and another one just after 5:00. Also my older dog who is only two kept moving around the room. He probably does this all the time, but since I seemed to be in a twilight sleep all night I was horribly aware of him. He's sometimes a puker dog too (like the one mentioned 2 years ago) so when I hear him getting up, I think maybe he's going to be sick. Anyway. The first nightmare was about a giant Daddy Longlegs (spider) which was under our couch, stealing toys from the kids and trying to pull C under. The second was about her favorite toy dog (a dalmation) whose head had become somehow shrunken and deflated. She was very upset both times.
I don't feel so bad now, but wait until later! Anyway I got in today and the stupid Internet wasn't working (and I was back to the proper proxy settings). So I had to wait for Luke to get here so he could show me (once again) how to get onto a European server that would actually let me access the Internet! Thanks Luke!

Blogging slows to a crawl

Maybe it's because I feel I don't have anything of interest to share. Anyway, I think I interrupted a would-be car thief on Friday night. I live in a mostly rural community. I went to rent a video at 9:15 pm and when I came out there was a guy standing at the driver's door of my car. My car was parked nowhere near any other car (as a paranoid woman that's what I do so I can see all the way around it). And so here's a guy standing there looking into my car. So then I guess he saw me approaching (I was only about 20 feet from my car when he noticed me) and acted all causal as he strolled away (in the direction of the store). So I'm not sure if he wanted the car, or was hoping there was something of value inside (there isn't) or if he planned on getting in and waiting for me on the inside. Now for all the time my husband, one of my children, or I myself have accidentally hit the panic button on the remote, why oh why did I forget I had one at such a time. Anyway... I phoned the police and gave them a very detailed description. Don't know what he had in mind, but I am very glad I wasn't victimized.
Pepsiqueen saves the day!? Who knows, maybe he still committed a crime that night, but in my fantasies, the police went there on my tip and busted him breaking into something or whatever. That would be cool. I always think of car thieves as being young punks, either stealing for the thrill or some drug money. This guy didn't fit the bill. Anyway, that unfortunately is about as exciting as my weekend ever got.
No blogging this weekend because I am reading a book which sometimes takes precedence over EVERYTHING else. As in my house isn't quite as tidy as it usually is following a weekend. I notice I get lots of profile view, but not so many comments. So if you're blog-surfing feel free to comment here and say hello, maybe then I can visit your blog.

Today's Lesson

Pork tenderloin that says "cook for 20 min/pound" should say 32 min/pound!! I've never cooked that before (that I can recall). But we are in a rut with the steak, burgers, bbq chicken. So I see those and they say "COOKS IN JUST 20:00 Min. per pound". Wow I thought, I could even cook this DURING the week! 1.5 pounds, 1/2 hour, beautiful! Alas, 55 min later, dinner was ready. So much for giving the kids a bath!
Tonight I'm ordering a pizza. If they don't like it they can eat Cherrios.
So I see now that there is a horizontal line through the top of that picture below. Didn't notice it before. Anyway, I'm too lazy/busy to worry about it.
Puppy is in heat. Loads of fun. We bought the little dog pants which hold a sanitary pad. The kids love her in them. I think when she is done we will get her fixed. Although, she is a beautiful dog. I just don't want to add to 'the problem' so spayed she shall be.
Finished reading a book last night. "Story of O" I felt kinda jipped when I got to the 'end' only to find there wasn't one. It actually said "the end of this story has be suppressed"!!! What? What the hell kind of country do I live in? Although I think maybe I can guess why. One of the characters was only 15 and I think something graphic was going to happen involving her. So I guess I do understand, but why not rewrite the line where she says she's 15 and throw an 18 in there? Problem solved! I was reading on and thinking (only a few pages, how's she gonna wrap this up in 3 or 4 pages). Oh well. Anyone in Europe know the ending?

My Blog Hasn't Died, it's just resting...

Whew, been way too busy. Can't believe I wasn't on the computer at all for the entire weekend. As I may have mentioned I went out Saturday. It was so much fun. 8 or 10 coworkers (and former coworkers) and many of their friends/girlfreinds etc... were there. I even ran into a guy I haven't seen in ages. New him in grade school and I got his name right off the bat. Here is a picture from the bar. The band was great and a good time was had by all. If you want to see the rest of our crew check Pazz's pictures out (also if you go to the 2-12-05 album, you can see my birthday celebration).
Also, I saw a Northern Flicker in my yard this weekend. Only the second time I've ever seen one. That was great.