boo!

Happy Halloween!

It's that time again... ding-dong, trick-or-treat, "no we can't go to that house, the lights are off", sugar bugs reeking havoc on the teeth, spooktacular time of year! Oh joy! And this year, we get to wear several layers of clothes, hats, gloves, and big jackets just so we don't get frostbite while walking around in the 23 degree weather. Sheesh! At least it's not raining.

I was informed last night that my darling son had made plans with a classmate to gather the goods together. Uh huh! We already have plans to hoof it with the neighbors. So, classmate's mother calls and I break the news. Trying to be nice I invite them to come with us. She tells me the plan - they're meeting other classmate and mother in a neighborhood none of us live in. Notsomuch! Then, somehow, after hanging up the phone... I realize she's invited herself over an hour after we already go out. WTH? So now I gotta entertain tonight too? Ugh!

I'm sure you remember this from growing up, but it was really funny to hear WJ saying it this morning. (And guess who taught it to him? Classmate he made plans with!)

Trick-or-Treat, smell my feet

give me something good to eat!

If you don't, I don't care

I'll pull down your underwear.

book update

Another one done! I bought the second in the series, Undead and Unemployed, on Saturday around 3:00PM. By 10:00AM the following morning... done.

I knew I should have bought all the remaining ones right away. Now I've been forced to start reading other things. Not that these others are bad (though I am having a hard time getting into one I picked up last night), it's just not the same. Oh well! This looks like it's shaping up to be a busy week, so I probably won't have much reading time anyway. Unless, of course, I break down and get Undead and Unappreciated!

bittersweet

I finished reading Undead and Unwed last night before going out. Awesome book! With any good "series" book, it's always bittersweet when you finish - now you know the ending, but if you don't have the next one to start, it sucks. So, of course, now I'll have to make a trip out today to get Undead and Unemployed. It's not that I don't have a ton of other books around here I can read... I just don't like to wait. Besides, today is a perfect day for curling up on the sofa, under a warm blanket, with a good book.

I've also got to get something made with the big box of apples sitting in my garage. Applesauce is a definite, and I was originally thinking of an apple pie. But there are SO many of them! And then a friend mentioned she was making apple crisp. Yum! I asked her to send me the recipe, and it turns out it's her husband's mother's recipe. And now I can't wait! Family recipes are always SO much better than those from a cookbook. If you want some apple crisp, c'mon over! I certainly don't want to have to eat it all myself.

Thursday Thirteen - Round 2

Thursday Thirteen - Round 2: Thirteen Jobs I've Had

1. bank teller
2. caterer
3. dry cleaner
4. legal secretary
5. receptionist
6. administrative assistant
7. event planner
8. medical office staff
9. inventory counter
10. non-profit association management
11. owner of e-commerce site
12. independent consultant
13. mother

craziness

There's always such craziness when I'm hangin' with Stacie and Liss! Here's our latest wildness. You can check it out and run a picture of yourself... or a friend.

Hitch50

Have you ever wanted to see every state in the US? Well, these two guys, Scotty and Fiddy, are on the move to do it. Check it out!

Looking forward to their arrival in Oly!!

word verification?

There is just something wrong when you go to post a comment on your own damn blog and you have to actually DO the word verification just to post! I mean c'mon... you see it's me... I'm already logged in. Are you too stupid to tell that I am the only owner of this blog?

And, in case you didn't know, it's not really "word" verification! I'm pretty sure that randomly throwing together a bunch of letters does NOT constitute forming a word. Sheesh!

Thursday Thirteen - Round 1

I almost forgot I was going to start Thursday Thirteen this week! Found the idea from Stacie. Thanks chica! Guess it's a blog trend right now, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon. Basic rules: You post it every Thursday (which I almost forgot!), you create the theme (might be hard sometimes), then list thirteen things that fall under that theme. I hope you try it too!

Thursday Thirteen - Round 1: Thirteen Things on My Breakfast Bar

1. Coffee maker
2. Bottle of Merlot
3. Telephone
4. Plant
5. Candles
6. Leaves (collected by Wesley while on a walk)
7. Camera
8. Computer
9. Books
10. Keys
11. Sunglasses
12. Organizer
13. School photos

I was tagged!

That crazy girl Stacie tagged me! So here goes...

Here are the rules: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but the must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

My seven:
1. You and Me
2. Chasing Cars
3. Fix You
4. Welcome to Wherever You Are
5. Far Away
6. Now Comes the Night
7. Everywhere

Seven people I'm tagging:
Liss
Sara
Groove
Jessica
Terri
Norman
Subservient Worker

I don't really expect anyone to do this... so no pressure!

is this my hell?

It's that wonderful time of the year again when I will be somewhat absent from the world. Why? Tomorrow my mother arrives for a week. {sigh}

As much as I thoroughly enjoyed having her here the last time, this trip was "sprung" on me (read as she booked the damn trip and THEN told me she was coming without asking if it was a good time for me) and it really wasn't a convenient time (had to change around some plans). Regardless, she'll be coming by herself this time... something she needs to do every once in a while to regain whatever sanity she's lost to my father. The other thing that bothers me about this trip is since I'm STILL not working, I'll be expected to spend that much more time with her.

Oh well... maybe this is my hell and I'm off to better places later in life!

back against the wall (update)

My prankster is back!

Well, I don't know if he/she ever left, but there hadn't been any pranks... until I wrote about it. :-)

Wesley goes to bed at 8pm on school nights... and I am ususally a night owl. Last night, however, I headed up around 11pm. Anyway, as you can calculate, I was the only one downstairs and awake for the 3 hours between 8pm-11pm. AND, I know I used the downstairs toilet several times during that time.

When I came down just a few minutes ago and went in to pee, how do you think I found the toilet??? Yep! Lid and seat fully up! LOL

Now does that make you want to sit with your back against the wall?

back against the wall

So, Stacie was asking us to share stories about feeling the need to have our backs against the wall. We talked about this a bit over the weekend, both of us having read Norman's creepy stories. It was actually a revelation to me (after reading them) that what I've experienced throughout my life probably IS attached to me, and not a particular house or location. Anyway, that said, I've got a bunch of creepy stories I can tell, but for now, I'll just stick with one that's sort of funny. (Don't want to creep anyone out too much!)

I have a ghost. Well, I think he/she is still around? Anyway, a little background. We moved into this house in October 2001 (WOW! just realized it's been 5 years yesterday). Wesley was just 16 months at the time. I truly believe children have the ability to see/hear/communicate on a different level that most adults either choose not to recognize or are too embarassed to admit exists.

When he was around 2-1/2, he started "talking" to someone... much in the way children create imaginary friends. He would giggle, smile, and actually "look" at whoever he was communicating with. I tried to ask him questions about his little "friend" not wanting to discourage his awareness, but he never gave me anything more than a playful laugh. I know he saw him/her. I know he played with him/her. Whether he still does now, I'm not sure.

Our ghost isn't a harmful one. He/she is actually a prankster. On one occassion, when The Rents were visiting, he/she played a trick on my mother. For whatever reason (and there always is one... neck pain, pissed off about something, my dad's snoring) my mom decided to sleep on the couch in our family room for the night. As I found out the next morning, she awoke during the night to use the restroom, and when she went to "sit" on the toilet (with the lights off) found herself falling in the bowl since not only the lid, but the toilet seat were up. With three boys in the house (my dad, my ex, and Wesley) this wouldn't be an uncommon experience except for the fact that SHE was the last one to use the toilet the night before and when she went to bed... everything was down.

We asked all the boys if they'd for some reason come downstairs in the middle of the night to use the toilet instead of using one of the two perfectly funcitioning ones upstairs. Of course, they hadn't.

I couldn't help but laugh, and told her it was obviously the ghost playing tricks on her. Not only did she NOT think it was funny... she just looked at me and said, "I can't believe you REALLY think you have a ghost in this house!"

Well... how else do you explain it?