Halloween goes to the dogs...

I'm writing this as Hannah and Liz are trying to work off their sugar buzzes before bed. Lizzie is doing this by reading noisily with Rob, while Hannah is watching the same dialog on iCarly over and over and OVER again....

Carly: Did you play packrat all night?
Spencer: I don't know ... I...
Carly: Why is there a bagel in your pants?
Spencer: I ... ah ... got hungry...

This is how our two day Halloween extravaganza started. Yesterday was the girls' elementary school's Halloween Parade. Frankly, I could live without it, but the girls love it. To me (and most of the other parents) it's a 20 minute traffic jam in the parking lot followed by 10 minutes of parading followed by another 20 minute traffic jam. But there IS a lot of cuteness. Hannah was a poodle for Halloween...

And Lizzie was a Dalmatian...
I bought their costumes on ebay for practically nothing, and was quite proud of myself. However, Bob's costume was homemade. :( But he still looks cute, don't you think? Here, the three of them were getting ready to go to their next Halloween social engagement, the Father Daughter Dance (a Girl Scout fund raiser). For this event we went all out and painted faces, but Hannah ended up looking like a zombie poodle and Lizzie just complained that the face paint itched, so we ditched it for the rest of the weekend. Since the girls were dogs, Rob was a dog catcher (thanks to my brother TA for the idea). He is carrying a pet carrier full of stuffed dogs as well as a butterfly net:

Here's the net in action:

And in action again. Please take note of the tiny dog on Rob's cap as I looked all over the house for at least 40 minutes trying to find a dog that was small enough to wear on his head:

The Father Daughter Dance (actually called the Gal and Pal because some moms go, too, but not this mom!) was fun. Hannah, especially had a blast and danced the night away. Lizzie danced some, but also visited the bathroom three times.

On Saturday, we went to Aunt Terry's barn where they were having a horse show. They actually have a class where the riders and the horses get dressed up. Even the judge was wearing a gorilla suit. There were some very creative costumes. Here, the girls are hanging out with Terry, watching Shelby work her horse James:

Shelby's costume is that of an equestrian :)

Here are my cutie-pie doggies:

And again, in a photo were we can actually see Lizzie's adorable face:

FINALLY it was time to hit the streets and beg for candy! There aren't a lot of houses where they trick or treat, but there aren't many trick or treaters in this area, so they get a lot of candy at each house. Including this one. Here they are getting started:

And off they go with the dog catcher again. Because Rob got dressed up this year, he actually collected quite a bit of candy himself, so it's a good thing he had that net to hold it all:

Toward the end of their trick-or-treating it started to rain, so I actually had to go pick them up at a neighbor's house. Their last stop, though, was here, so they went to the front door and I ran in through the garage and gave them each just about a bag of candy each.

They got a lot of loot and (as you can see) didn't really mind the rain at all.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween, too!!

Weekend guests

We had a very scary wild thing visit us this past weekend!

No, not THIS wild thing...
THIS wild thing ...

Wild Thing had a very nice weekend with us (I hope!) He was the guest of Hannah and is making the rounds of all the students in her class. They each make a journal entry about his activities over the weekend, and each child takes three photos of Wild Thing. Well, as you all know, three pictures is not NEARLY enough for me. So we took three photos with the official camera and about a gazillion with mine. Here, Hannah is reading to Wild Thing:

Wild Thing also went to one of our favorite parks with us. Here he is on the Teeter Totter with Hannah:

And on this balancing thingie ... I have no idea what it's really called:

Lizzie brought a friend to the park, too. Here's one of her (million) bears. She has so many that they do not have individual names. We call them all "bear." Which reminds me that, with their birthday coming up, we have enough bears...:Here's Lizzie and her bear on a spinner thingie (again, probably not what it's really called):

HEY, that spinner thing looks too dangerous for Wild Thing:
Wild Thing used his time away from the playground to fall in love with My Little Pony. Don't they make a cute couple?:

Wild Thing is a little shy to talk about it...:

In fact, Wild Thing was a little reluctant to go back to school with Hannah on Monday until he heard it was SPIRIT DAY. So off he went back to school with Hannah in her Eagles gear (thanks Terry) and Lizzie in her Phillies finest (thanks again, Terry.)

Wild Thing also got to attend my belated birthday party. I've pretty much been celebrating or the entire month. Rob's family came by this past weekend and a great time was had by all. And by all, I mean ME! Got some more presents. Ate some more ice cream. Had a lot of laughs. Here's Wild Thing with the whole gang:

Hannah took some time to read to Uncle Dude, too:And finally here's me with our weekend guests:Oh and in case you're confused about the picture at the top of this blog, don't worry ... Rob has not invested in a hairpiece or anything. He was just modeling someone else's hairpiece. And he makes quite the handsome hairy guy, doesn't he? Well, maybe not...

Brownies and Pie

On Tuesday 16 brownies officially became members of Troop 4012. And I officially became their leader. We all have the pins to prove it. I even wore my uniform for the occasion (basically a navy blue shirt and the official GSUSA scarf!) The investiture was lovely and the girls really had a great time. So did I. I expected that I would enjoy being a Brownie leader, but the truth is, in a totally sappy way, I LOVE IT. Even though I really do need a nap after every meeting.

We did the standard Brownie Pond Investiture where the girls all stood by the pond in the courtyard of the elementary school and pledged to be Brownies and follow the Girl Scout Law. Each Brownie was turned around by my assistant leader Amy, while I said:
Twist me, Turn me
Show me the Elf,
I looked in the mirror
And saw ...
MYSELF (the girl says that part). Then I pinned her Brownie pin on her sash, gave her the Brownie handshake and went on to the next girl. When it was all done we sang the Brownie smile song. Then we came inside and did our closing circle where we sang Make New Friends and sent the hand squeeze around the circle. I think the parents were pretty charmed by the ritual of it, and how much the girls were into it!
We followed the ceremony with refreshments (brownies, of course! and apple cider) and then everyone went home.
I don't feel comfortable posting the pictures of my Troop (even though only about 5 people read my blog, I didn't ask permission of the moms....) so instead, here is our Troop Banner that we made last week as part of one of our Try Its! (brownie badges). The Girl Scout motto is Be Prepared, so I had each of the girls make their own bee from a template I created. Amy put the Bees in place and added the fringe and dowel and string and I think it came out really sweet looking. We'll take it with us when we sing at the nursing homes or participate in cookie sales, etc.

Here's Lizzie's Bee -- notice the lovely eyelashes and bling on the wings:

And here's Hannah's Bee -- a more minimalist effort, but she did have her bee wear earrings. Also she insisted on signing Hannah R so that everyone would know it was her instead of all the other Hannah's in the troop (of which there are none!)

So with the Investiture behind us, and two days off for conferences we decided to bake a pie this morning. My friend Deb taught me to make pie crusts on Monday as part of a Moms Club activity, so with the crust already made, I had the girls do the filling. First, Hannah puts the pumpkin in a bowl:

Then Lizzie poured in the evaporated milk and they stirred and stirred and stirred:

Hannah did really well adding her egg. Lizzie added the first egg, but freaked out when some of the egg white dripped on her, so I had to rescue the egg and get it safely into the bowl. Hannah's getting to be a pro at egg cracking:

Then we poured it into the pie shell and let it bake for an hour or so:

Here's a close-up of the pie, pre baking. And notice the lovely near-professional fluting on my pie crust:

Here it is cooling on top of the stove. Oh, and you get a little preview of Lizzie's Halloween costume, too! So that was our last 24 hours or so. We're having the pie for dessert for dinner tonight, along with pot roast (my mom's delicious recipe) and egg noodles. Luckily dinner is only in about 30 minutes because writing about it, and seeing this pie I am HUNGRY!!

Simple Woman's Daybook

For October 17

Outside my window... it's raining. It rained yesterday and the day before that. I think it's going to rain tomorrow, too. What's that about October showers bringing Mayflowers? Ha Ha.

I am thinking... that I really enjoy the weekends since the girls have been going to school full time now. I try to make it real family time and make sure that we do at least one thing together. Of course that's USUALLY a drive in the car with Lizzie doesn't like (just ask her!) but it does give us some time to just focus on each other.

I am thankful ... for good friends who spoiled me on my birthday. Had coffee and tea with a bunch of them, lunch out with two of my sisters and birthday wishes from all over the United States.

From the kitchen... We're having friends over for dinner so there's a beef stew (with sweet potatoes and a dash of cinnamon) in the crockpot and I just make cookies and cornbread and will do the biscuits in a few minutes. Friends are bringing a salad. I als0 have an apple cake that I bought at the Moms Club bake sale yesterday to serve for dessert. AND I went down to the dairy and got some fresh heavy cream to whip up to go with it.

I am wearing... purple velvet shirt, brown leggings, black shoes. My hair is in a braid right now, but I'll probably take it down before dinner.

I am creating... many different things. The agent that I met with earlier this week wants to see the first couple of chapters and a synopsis of "Play Dead" (a book written for 9 to 12 year old girls) so I need to actually write the synopsis. I did, thankfully already write the book. I'm also working on certificates for the Brownie Investiture on Tuesday and I've got thank you notes to write, too.

I am going ... to watch a Gene Kelly film festival tonight. Most likely The Three Muskateers and Inherit the Wind. Tivo automatically recorded them (I have it set to catch anything with Gene Kelly in it) and I haven't seen either of those movies in a looooong time. My favorite though is probably Marjorie Morningstar, which hasn't been on television at least in the last nine months. :( Hopefully it will be soon. I haven't seen it in ages!

I am reading... "The Department of Lost and Found" by Allison Winn Scotch, who is a sort of friend of mine (we belong to a writer's group together) and she is now a best selling author with her second book, "Time of My Life" which is being made into a movie. Lost and Found is her first book and I'm really enjoying it. By the way, I decided that I did not really like Emily's Ghost ... not enough happened and (if you know the story of the Bronte sisters) it did not have a happy ending.

I am hoping... to resist the fresh whipped cream that I'll be putting on the apple cake. Maybe just one spoonful.....

I am praying ... for my friend Corey who has made the extremely difficult decision to disrupt the adoption of her son, whom she calls Angryboy on her blog. He was adopted with his two sisters from Haiti (and Corey has three other children, too) and has been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. He has been in a treatment facility for 10 months and, because he harmed two of the other children in the house, Corey and her husband have decided that they can no longer parent him. So they are working very very hard to find him the perfect parents so he can thrive. You can read the story here, http://watchingthewaters.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/family-needed/ I can't imagine the grief that she is feeling making this extremely difficult decision, so will you join me in prayer? Thanks!

I am hearing... Spongebob is vying for attention over the keyboard downstairs (Hannah is playing "Red River Valley" and she's pretty good!) The rain has stopped momentarily, but I can hear the drops come down from the trees when the wind shakes them. Oh my, now Hannah is singing with the keyboard ... SO SWEET!!!

Around the house... things are looking good. I am very blessed to have a husband who cleans bathrooms. Ours are now sparkling!

One of my favorite things... is facebook. If you join (and please join ... I held out for years, but it's fun to keep up with everyone!) give me a holler there, too.

A few plans for the week ahead... I'm learning how to make pie crusts on Monday. I love to bake and can usually perfect things on my own, but for some reason (probably that I don't really care for most pies) my pie crusts are TERRIBLE. So on Monday my friend Deb is going to show me and a few other women in our Moms Club how to make them. Then I've got the Brownie Investiture and meeting, a couple of work related things, dance (for H and L, not for me) and I've got to find time to write the synopsis so I can become a famed middle grade writer. And just so you know, there is virtually no money to be made writing middle grade books, so I'm continuing in my streak of only choosing professions in which I can maintain my poverty.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... missing summer sunshine.

For other daybooks see, http://www.thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Birthday and other updates

Don't you hate it when work interferes with your social life?

That's exactly what happened to me last week when for reasons I can't explain, other than procrastination, I ended up writing five stories. F.I.V.E. When I worked full time as a reporter I don't think I wrote five stories in a week. Sometimes not even in a month. But those were the good old days.

Now I DO get to write five stories in a week AND get paid about a third of what I got paid before, which is, adjusted for inflation, about two thirds below the poverty line.

Luckily I love what I do, so that makes up for the lack of income... sort of.
Anyway, the extra work, plus a sick child, plus a husband prepping for and having a colonoscopy made it impossible for me to blog last week.

I did however, turn 51 on October 3rd. We had a fun day ... he's the story in photos....

Lizzie was very happy that we got to go out to a restaurant and have lunch. Mom's birthday is COOL:

In fact, we all enjoyed the St. Peter's Inn for lunch. It was supposed to rain on my birthday, but instead, we had a beautiful day that was perfect for eating al fresco. In this picture you can see that I was having a chicken sandwich and a baked potato. The girls were having chicken fingers and fries and Rob was having something fattening. Plus the girls' leftover fingers and fries.
After lunch we took a drive into Phoenixville because my friend Denise's crafts were being featured at a local store and they were having a party to celebrate it. Denise's website is http://www.stagsgiftsfromtheheart.com/Gallery/index.htm. I have some of her signs in my house, but on this day I bought the girls these cute ballerina purses. They are actually meant to hang from a hook in a girl's room, but Hannah and Liz decided they'd take them to dance class with their dance shoes tucked inside:

Then it was time to go home for cake and PRESENTS!! Here Rob lights the candles on my cake, after turning off the smoke detectors:Everyone sang Happy Birthday. In fact my sisters Tally and Beanie called and sang to me, too. I got messages from them because soon after the cake was eaten, we lost power and the only phone that works in a power outage was turned off so I never heard anything ring. Luckily the power was restored two hours later, just as it was getting dark, because we had burned all the candles in the house, on my birthday cake: The birthday girl, happy to report that I blew out all the candles on the first try:

I got many wonderful gifts for my birthday. I must be predictible because I got several gift cards for Dunkin' Donuts and my own stash of DD ground coffee, plus iTunes gift certificates and more coffee. The girls got me several pairs of very warm and fluffy socks that they had stuffed inside a HUGE tote bag that will be perfect to take everything to the pool this summer. However, Lizzie's gift really touched my heart. She knew that I wanted a poodle for my birthday, so she MADE ME ONE!! Isn't she the sweetest? Here I am with my dog:

In other news ...

* Hannah came home from school on Thursday with a sinus infection so she got to attend Rob's colonoscopy on Friday. Don't worry, she wasn't in the room or anything. She was, however, thrilled by the revolving door leading into the building and went round and round about 47 times before respiking her fever up to 102 and having to go home and rest.

* Rob's colonoscopy was clear. Yay!!!

* Tracy needs to go for a colonoscopy, too, but after seeing the prep is not in any hurry.

* Hannah was well enough to go to a birthday party on Saturday. Rob went with her and I took Lizzie over to Michael's (Hannah calls it the Crap Store) where she decorated a pumpkin. Then we went out to lunch at the ice cream parlor and had a hot dog and ice cream (I skipped the ice cream).

* I'm not getting ready to take Lizzie to the doctor because she has an ear infection that kept her up last night, sent her to the nurse twice today (she refused to come home both times, but like the TLC she got from the nurse, I guess). She had no fever so she stayed in school. Now, though, her temp is 101.4 and the hot oil treatment didn't help at all, so it's off to the doctor we go. Again. Seriously this happens once a year that they are both sick for about three weeks and then they aren't sick again for the year. At least I hope that's the case this time.

* I have a meeting with an agent tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Fall weekend

My birthday was on Saturday and I do have some pictures of that, which I'll post later on in the week. But the girls were playing in a pile of leaves on a warmish, fallish Sunday, and I couldn't resist taking pictures, so I'm doing that post instead. Which I'm sure makes you all much happier than seeing pictures of me eating birthday cake.
First the outfit. In order to properly jump in a pile of leaves you must wear a hat. Hannah chose a blue knit cap (knit by Grandma Jo) and Lizzie chose a Nordic design hat from Gap. The only other thing is that they both begged to be barefoot. I would have thought shoes would have made it easier, but Lizzie said that way they didn't have to worry about stepping on each other.The activity consisted of throwing the leaves at each other... ...throwing the leaves at themselves:

And throwing the leaves at the photographer:

I did not take pictures of them trying to sled down the pile of leaves because it was not a successful venture. Neither did I take pictures of them riding the sled down the slide because I was too busy yelling "Knock it off, that's dangerous." (But then I let them do it and it looked really fun!)

Then there was just general jumping around (incidentally my camera was having shutter speed issues, but I thought the pictures came out pretty cool anyway): And finally, a lovely smile for the camera...

You really can't beat a fall day with a fairly warm temperature and the leaves all crunchy. Oh, and the leaf pile is thanks to Daddy who bagged up most of the leaves on our property and put them back in the woods. Only to find that by the time he was done, a entirely new batch had fallen. Which means next weekend there will be even MORE leaf jumping. Bonus!!

Happy Anniversary to Me (and Rob, too!)

This is the video card I made for Rob to celebrate our 15th anniversary. It's nearly 7 minutes long, but the music's good.

:)