Mellykat's Blog!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The 'No Tim Project' - Day Two

Well, I did unearth the coffee maker the other day, and succeeded in making some lousy coffee. I'm not sure what was in that canister, but it didn't turn out well. Closer to the time Chris was coming home, I hopped in the tub for a nice bubble bath while the kids were playing reasonably well in the living room. I asked Carter to bring me a phone. He set it on the edge of the tub and I reached for a towel to dry my hands to use it.

Just then the phone rang. It was Chris, calling to ask if I wanted him to bring me a coffee on his way home, which was EXACTLY what I was about to phone him to request. Suh-weet. I lazed around for much of the afternoon until I needed to get ready to go to Sandi's 15th(? I'm not sure how many) annual Christmas decorating party. Every year she invites her friends over to decorate her house for Christmas and then she rewards us with plenty of yummy snacks. There were many hands there this year to make the work light, and we had a great time. Chris thoroughly enjoyed the treats I brought home for him too.

Sunday morning I didn't really feel up to taking both kids to church. I contemplated going alone but the reaction from Chris was something like, ''WHAT!?!?'' My next impulse was to forego it completely. The rest of Sunday is a blur to me now.

Yesterday I did my maintenance project on a few more computers, and today I took a short trip to one of our local offices, about twenty-five miles away. Tomorrow morning I'll leave bright and early for another trip, this time about sixty miles, and Thursday about the same. I'm really enjoying working solely on computers as opposed to trying to do my regular job with the program support I do and trying to squeeze in as much IT support I can around the office. I'm having a great time spreading my little geeky wings. :p

I made two meatloaves yesterday; one for supper and the other for the freezer, perhaps for a day that I'm away so Chris can make supper for himself and the boys. I made mashed potatoes and peppercorn gravy, and nuked some kernel corn, which Cooper adores and ate plenty of.

Tonight we had a great night. After work Chris came home to shower and get ready for his flu shot appointment at six o'clock at my office, which he wasn't thrilled that I scheduled for him. :) I planned for us all to go with him, then go to McDonald's for supper. After McDonald's we went to Wal-Mart so I could buy some shoes. I seriously had no regular shoes to wear for work anymore, aside from an ugly old faded pair that had a big hole in the side of one of them. I got a cute pair of heels that oddly make my feet look tiny. I didn't do a lot of walking around in them so I hope they don't kill me tomorrow. Though I will be doing more driving than walking tomorrow!

After Wal-Mart we had a little time to kill before going to the theatre to watch Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. Carter had fallen asleep in the Jeep since we cruised around for awhile before heading for the show. Cooper was wide awake as per usual the whole time and well after we got home. The movie was cute, and I carried Carter in asleep and only woke him just in time to start watching the movie. He found it kind of weird to wake up at the movie theatre, and was difficult to keep awake until I handed him a little grab bag of candy. He sat perfectly the whole time, enjoying the show. Cooper on the other hand was a little antsy. He had a few handfuls of (my) cotton candy and roamed around among our seats a bit. Then after awhile he said he had to pee. He took off on me in the dark theatre and I followed him. He is afraid of nothing. He actually went pee in the toilet and his pull-up from a couple hours before was still dry. We're really getting there in the potty department, even without really trying, which is a huge bonus.

We got back to our seats and only a moment later he said he had to go again. Not wanting to discourage him, I followed him to the washroom again, and he did actually have one more little squirt, but he just wanted to run around the whole place. We went back to our seats and he started asking for a drink of milk. Which was utterly impossible, so he expressed an interest in a drink of water. Up we went again to the concession stand and I purchased a bottle of water while he ran around the (thankfully empty) lobby. We managed to get through the rest of the movie without any further trips anywhere. We came home and after a couple drinks of milk, the boys were off to bed. It was a great evening. I love when we do stuff like that.

Oh, and as for the ''No Tim Project'', since I dug out the coffee maker the other day, purchased a big can of coffee and some coffee cream, Chris has been making coffee. Today is day two without either of us purchasing any commercially-brewed coffee. We take coffee to work in our travel mugs. I'm going to put three bucks in a jar for ever day we make coffee at home and see how soon we can buy a new house. hahaha. Or at least notice a difference in our coffee spending. So far I'm quite enthusiastic about it. Just as long as I don't have to make the coffee. It just never tastes the same when I make it...

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Wwwwwwaaaaallllllll-Eeeeeeeeeee

Friday started out great. Kelly delivered a venti vanilla latté at the office. I'm running out of computers to work on, since the staff I still need to work on have laptops and are out of town or are seeing clients. I should be able to wrap up a few more on Monday before I start traveling to other offices.

At lunch I had my eyebrow wax appointment, took Carter to school, grabbed a bite to eat, stopped to drop off some paperwork to Chris at work, ran to Timmy's for a coffee and went back to work. I always pack as much as I can into that lunch hour. That is one small reason I look forward to both kids being full-time in school so I can have one hour of the day to myself. Aside from that I'm in no hurry for them to grow up.

Mom called during the day to invite us for supper. By the end of the workday I had forgotten. Even when a coworker asked me what we were planning to have for supper. After I picked up the kids from the sitter I was driving toward Chris's work. At that moment I remembered, and was re-delighted! I dropped off Carter with Chris and went to the video store with Cooper. Wall-E came out on DVD this week so I rented it.

We came home and after Chris showered and got ready, we drove to Mom and Dad's house for a wonderful supper. Mom has her beautifully-decorated Christmas tree up already! I like to wait until after Cooper's birthday to put ours up. It keeps his birthday separate from Christmas since it's fairly close.

After supper we watched the movie. Both kids were still going strong by the time we left at ten o'clock, but promptly zonked out on the way home. I didn't last much longer than they did; I went to sleep shortly after eleven.

This morning all is well so far. Right now the boys are driving trucks in the kitchen and we haven't had too many kerfuffles yet. I'm tossing around the idea of packing them in the Jeep so I can go get a coffee. I actually cleaned out two kitchen cupboards and unearthed our coffee maker. If I can find a few grounds of coffee somewhere I'll attempt to make some. I doubt it.

I have a couple projects to work on this weekend that I'm looking forward to, and I'm always hoping to get some scrapbooking done.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Shots

I now am remembering to mention I took the kids in for flu shots this past week. I figured Carter would weather it well, and I went in with him. He watched the needle go in and didn't squirm a bit. I was more concerned for Cooper, who, while in the waiting room was exclaiming he didn't want a ''flu shack.'' I got one of my coworkers to go in with him and the nurse. He came out happy, and after only a few minutes was saying his flu shot was all gone. Neither of the two complained a bit later on either, which was fantastic. I had given them some Tylenol just before the shot in case of any fever or pain.

Carter was drowsy around suppertime, much like usual, and dozed off for awhile. Cooper, very much out of character and routine, also fell asleep just after suppertime, around six-thirty. I thought about waking him, but didn't bother, hoping he would get a good stretch of sleep in before getting up. Silly me. He was up at eleven and READY TO PAR-TAY. Carter woke up at some point earlier, and ended up still awake by the time Cooper got up, right around the time I was heading for bed.

Cooper ended up keeping me up for a few hours. I remember being exasperated around two-thirty. I attempted to remain calm and tried to soothe and cuddle him so that I could go to sleep too. So sometime likely around three or three-thirty I may have fallen asleep, only to have to get up for work. And I have yet to figure out this phenomenon, but regardless of how much or little Cooper sleeps, he still manages to get up and wake me about a half hour before my alarm clock is scheduled to sound.

Today was another good IT day. I'm averaging four computers a day with all the upgrades and maintenance I need to do on each one. There is a little time in between for a quick coffee break or to check in on my other job to see if I need to do anything. Usually I don't need to, because Diane, who used to do my job, is right back on top of things and is keeping the ship running very smoothly! I'm betting the staff I support is wishing they could keep her because she is so organized.

Tonight we planned to go to Bingo. Mom changed her mind and didn't join us. Kelly won twice, which rocked, and we got to split $172, which was a nice change from my most recent wins that were split so many times before we even received the winnings.

I came home and both kids apparently had a great evening and were snuggled in their beds asleep. So I'm up later than I should be, and I'm off to try to grab six hours of sleep if I can pull it off before those little early birds come after me!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Lost: One Whole Week. Finder Please Call 555-5555

Wow. I think I might have forgotten I even had a blog this past week. Let's see. I started working on this new IT project, Carter went to a birthday party on the weekend. Cindy took Cooper for the afternoon since Chris was going out to a friend's camp overnight on Saturday. Carter and I went to Cindy's after the birthday party. We had an awesome supper (yes, SUPPER, I say, Angie...tell your friend!) and the kids played outside a little.

On the way home I dropped off a movie for Mom and Dad since we had one more day with it. It was Journey to the Center of the Earth. We watched it on Friday night and since Chris fell asleep during it but wasn't going to be home to watch it Saturday night, I wanted to get the most out of the rental! It was a pretty good movie, and despite the fact that it was fiction, it was pretty far-fetched. But very enjoyable, nonetheless.

I sincerely can't believe it's already Wednesday. My days have been filled doing computer maintenance and upgrades, (which I am LOVING, by the way!) and the days go by very quickly. Next week I will do a bit of traveling to the nearby offices and some farther traveling the following week.

Because of the change in my schedule, I picked up a new cell phone with a package that includes roaming and long distance, which is great. And the phone is pretty cool too, a Motorola Razr. My evenings have been rather short since I've been going to bed a little earlier than usual.

So, that's my week in a nutshell. I'll try to keep posting, otherwise I just lose track.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Novembrance Day

Yesterday was Remembrance Day. Chris lowered our flag to half mast in honour. We took the kids to the sitter and had the day off. I went on a cleaning binge. I cleared off the top of the junk-collecting TV stand, dusted, hung Cooper's 3, 6, 9, and 12-month pictures that I've been wanting to hang for very nearly two years now. I just eyeballed it and hammered in the nails, so it's not bad, considering my technique.

I started vacuuming the living room and moved one of the couches away from the wall. It's obviously been awhile since that couch was moved. There were miscellaneous icky things behind it; mostly food particles and small broken pieces of toys. I washed the back of the couch and the wall, and decided to keep on moving the couch. To the other side of the room. So I vacuumed everything and set the couch in its new place. Chris rounded up all the toys to one corner of the room and I weeded out a few and chucked them in the basement, an area which still requires much organizing and purging, but I'm getting there!

I did a little bit of chatting and scrapbooking whenever I lost steam and came up with this page using Theresa Hernandez' new kit called Cherry Berry, available at NDISB.



I'll post a larger version of the image later since I did this on the laptop.

Today was my first day at my new reassignment at work. I'm still a program assistant, but I'm reassigned to help the IT department getting everyone's computers upgraded to the same software, operating systems and doing some asset tracking and maintenance. Once the planning phase is complete, I'll be doing a traveling roadshow for a couple months until the project is complete. I'm very excited about this new opportunity.

I had a great lunch with Seija today. Now that she is working in the same building as I am, we've been in touch a bit more and we will hopefully get together more often for lunch and hopefully to visit with our families.

Late in the afternoon I called Mom to see if she wanted to go to Bingo. She was up for it so we arranged for me to pick her up. I grabbed a pizza for the kids and brought them home. They must have been hungry because they both had chowed down a piece before I even left, and Chris said they went back for more!

I actually won one Bingo, a hundred-dollar game, but I can't seem to be the only winner lately. There were three other winners so I scored twenty-five bucks. The place was packed so the games went quite quickly, usually with multiple winners. It was brutal every time Mom needed one number. Aside from my nice little win, I barely got close. I brought Mom home and came home.

Tomorrow will be another planning day, and we'll hopefully have a task list and schedule in place. It will be nice to be able to plan out where I'll be so I can make arrangements with Chris for getting Carter to school if I have to be away. It was great having a day off in the middle of the week yesterday, because it's already Thursday tomorrow. Weekend, here we come! :)

Monday, November 10, 2008

An Accidental Contusion

Yes, I have yet another bonk on the head. This time it was self-inflicted, and very klutzy. After I dropped off Carter at school, I went to get back in the Jeep. When I opened the door to get in, I whacked myself in the head with it. So far I have a red mark and a vertical raised bump on the top left side of my forehead above my left eyebrow, rather opposite to the still-existing lump on my right eyebrow from the sippy cup incident. At least the black eye has gone away from the first injury.

Despite that I was blinded for a second, my instinct was to look around to see if anyone saw (or heard) the bonk. There was a guy parked in a van behind me a little ways back, but I'm not sure if he would have noticed. I did a quick peek in the rearview mirror to make sure my brains weren't spilling out and I went off not-so-merrily on my way back to work.

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Friday. The weekend was pretty much a blur. I had a great lunch with Ashley on Saturday (thanks again, Ashley!) On the way home I did a stop for caramel frappuccinos so Chris could sample the sweet yummy goodness too. Carter had a swim birthday party to go to, and this was the first party where Mother Nature didn't stop by with a 'present' for me, so I was able to go for a swim at the party with Carter. The weather has gotten very icy and cold, therefore rendering my lack of shaven legs quite practical and useful, but I definitely needed to shed my winter coat before hitting the pool.

Carter did great in the pool. Last time he needed to be holding onto or very near someone. This time he was venturing all over the pool, even to the deep end (with his lifejacket on). The remainder of the party was in one of the meeting rooms and the kids had the requisite hotdogs, gift opening (oh...this was really nice...Carter actually reached into the gift bag and took the present out of the bag and gave it to the birthday girl. There was so much gift opening commotion going on that she didn't even realize he had given her a gift. So once all the presents were opened, she asked Carter, ''Carter, where is the present from you???'' I made a point of going over to the gift table and showing her what he got her, so she wouldn't think he didn't bring anything! It was worthy of a giggle from a few of us parents watching from the sidelines.

Another amusing aspect of the party was the pinata. The birthday girl's dad, brave soul that he was, stood on a chair and let a gaggle of partygoers swing madly at the Dora the Explorer pinata. Amazingly, he was only hit once, and it was by his own daughter. Whew. I was imagining someone getting maimed or disfigured. Here are a few choice shots from the party, including one of Carter winding up for a swing at the pinata.





Each kid was given a few tries at using the bat to break the pinata. After that didn't work, they tried the string pulling, which didn't work either. Then it resulted in a bunch of five-year-olds tearing poor Dora apart and having a free-for-all to get all the candy. Carter didn't try to take a lot, but what he did take he promptly went to sit at the table and eat all of. I'm guessing he wanted to make sure there was none to share when he got home.
Most of the rest of the evening at home was spent playing with the loot bag toys, and the sharing was surprisingly impressive, though the short-lived lifespan of the toys inside was fully expected.
I took both boys to church on Sunday. We missed a few weeks in a row when Mom and Dad were gone. Yes, their absence is a part of my excuse for not going...I can use all the help I can get in distracting these children into sitting still for a whole hour. I dropped the kids off at home with Chris and went out for a wonderful breakfast with Mom and Dad and the aunts and uncles (Thanks again, Mom & Dad!)
Today was surprisingly quiet at the office. There were many people off today, making an extra-long weekend for themselves including Remembrance Day tomorrow. Despite the decreased influx of calls, the day still zoomed by. I was trying to clear my desk for my replacement. Starting on Wednesday, I will be reassigned temporarily to help the IT department in getting everyone's computers upgraded to the same operating systems and software, plus some maintenance. It will be an exciting project and I'll get to do some traveling, albeit during the worst weather. Glad I have my Jeep! I'll have more details once the project gets started.

Friday, November 07, 2008

An Accidental Addiction

At long last. It is Friday. I am emitting a lengthy sigh of relief. It's been a very busy week at work. 'Tis flu season, and with the regular onslaught of phone calls for everything else, everyone wants to come in for a flu shot. Or a hearing test. Crikey. I need a headset for weeks like these. Sure makes for a quick workweek though!

On Wednesday, Mom and Dad returned from a two-week trip down east. They traveled back through the U.S. I was hoping for a Bingo date and with Mom barely home yet and Kelly gone, I thought my chances were slim. But Mom was game for it so we planned to go. She wasn't even unpacked yet and I was picking her up for Bingo. On my way I called Cindy to ask her what Mom would like from Starbucks. Cindy is the purveyor of Starbucks products and since our Starbucks is brand new, I sought out her advice. She advised me to get Mom a venti caramel frappuccino. I am not a big fan of iced coffee drinks, though I have been known to have an occasional ice capp from Tim Horton's. I'm not thrilled with how the liquid goes first and I'm left with colourless, flavourless slush.

So I arrived to pick up Mom with this gorgeous-looking beverage, garnished with swirly whipped cream and caramel drizzle. Unfortunately, she had just polished off a pint of Haagen-Dasz ice cream and was not the least bit interested in my frosty treat. I tried to pawn it off on Dad and he was going to put it in the freezer. I thought that might ruin it so I decided to take it and try it so that it wouldn't go to waste. BIG MISTAKE. HUGE. It was delicious. And freaking huge. It lasted me through half our evening out at Bingo. We didn't win anything, but we had a good time, particularly with my delightful refreshment to enjoy.

I barely recall much from yesterday. The workday whizzed by, and I had a brief visit with Chris at lunchtime. It's absolutely NUTS at the tire shop these days too, with the weather turning for the season. The guys barely have time to stop for a pee, letalone a bite to eat. So let this be your reminder to get those snow tires on! (No Angie, not you. Please disregard that last statement.)

Today I had a quick lunch with a couple girls from work before I took Carter to school. I picked him up a little later than usual, so I did a quick drop off once I walked him into his classroom. I was weighing the time I had left before I had to return to work to decide if I was going to go get a coffee at Tim Horton's or if I was going to attempt a quick run to Starbucks. I opted for Starbucks, and had three people to wait behind. A familiar face greeted me and took my order for a grande (not a venti this time) caramel frappuccino. I raced back to work and positioned myself for a busy afternoon, fueled by caffeine and sugar. Yummy!

I picked up the boys and we came home. I left Carter home with Chris and took Cooper to do some much-needed grocery shopping, including the much-needed movie, Kung-Fu Panda. Only moments after I arrived home and started unpacking groceries and preparing frozen pizza, Carter fell asleep. He totally missed supper and the movie. Cooper was too distracted by other things to be interested in the movie. We had gone to see it at the drive-in theatre this summer, but I think I was the only one who stayed awake. However, I'm pretty sure we'll be playing this movie repeatedly in the very near future.

Surprisingly, early enough in the evening all three of my boys were asleep. Cooper was the one who surprised me the most, crawling up beside me on the couch and promptly zonking out. He usually has a grumpy time before he falls asleep. I had given him a drink of milk and played solely with him since Carter went to sleep so early. So I figure this was his reason for so contently going to sleep. I started watching old movie reruns on TV and was freezing cold. I grabbed the laptop and headed for my cozy blankets. I started a few scrapbook pages, none of which I have yet successfully finished, and did plenty of chatting and catching up with Marsha, which was great. She has only six weeks to go until her baby arrives! I would sure like to be there for the grand event but I hope to at least get out there for a visit before he/she starts school. ::sigh::

I'll try to finish up a couple scrapbook pages this weekend and get something posted soon.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

What a Crock!

Oh did I make the most deliciousest dinner this evening! Actually, I made it this morning! Oddly, just as I was cursing the time change, it came in pretty handy today. I was up earlier than usual, and after checking email and surfing a bit, I decided I'd better get my day started. I've been dying to try out my new Crockpot and had all the ingredients to make a pepper steak stew. Well, at least I thought I had all the ingredients. I was missing tomato paste and an onion but I improvised a little. I browned the meat and cut up all the vegetables, including a zucchini that magically appeared in my fridge a couple weeks ago, most presumably from Mom and Dad. I tossed everything in the Crockpot and turned it on, putting it in the sink à la Auntie Lurdes, for safety reasons!

I popped in at lunchtime and before I even had my key in the lock I could smell the warm, yummy goodness emanating from the kitchen. I stirred the surface a little, just to make sure all the seasonings I added were mixed in. I was tempted to dig in already, but managed to leave it.

After work I picked up the boys and did my housesitting duties. I dropped off the mail and came home. The boys played outside for a bit and I got the rice ready to go with supper. I asked the boys to come in but when they did not, I helped myself to some stew. And it was goooooooooooooooood. I seriously need to do that again, and wayyyyyy more often. Carter fell asleep shortly after supper (thank you time change!) but Cooper still stays up until around nine o'clock (sigh). Pretty soon I'm hoping he'll outgrow naptime and be a better bedtime sleeper.

I started falling asleep very early (thanks alot, time change...now I'll never get anything done in the evenings anymore!) but I got a second wind on about the fifth time that Cooper jumped in my face. I did some chatting and a bit of work for work and now I'm ready for bed.

As for yesterday...it went by like a blur, much like today did. Supper was blogworthy...pork tenderloin medallions with green beans and crinkle cut fries that were a big hit (and were requested) by the kids. It was a fairly early evening and I fell asleep in Cooper's bed, quite likely long before he did ::sigh::

Mom and Dad are expected to arrive home tomorrow from a whirlwind trip down east to the Toronto area and back through the U.S. If they aren't too car-lagged, we'll pop out for a visit.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Making Spaces

Well, most of my weekend was spent organizing. I emptied the little workshop room in the basement yesterday. It was filled with bags of mostly children's clothing, assorted pieces of wood and broken things and boxes of junk. Plenty of empty boxes were in there; I usually keep the box for new items until the warranty wears out in case they need to be returned or something. I also filled a bag of stuff to take to the Salvation Army. I scrubbed the bathroom, with a little help from Carter. It doesn't matter who offers to help, I will take him/her up on it. I would spray something and he would wipe it. It was a great arrangement.

The kids were quite cooperative, surprisingly, and darted up and down the stairs, never venturing far from me. By the time Chris returned from work, there was a truckload of junk to take to the dump. He took Carter with him, which facilitated things a little for me. Cooper was pleased to rummage through the basement bedroom (which is nowhere near fit for human habitation because it is full of toys). Anyway, he had a variety of stuff to play with. I did many loads of laundry and went through bags upon bags of children's clothing, much of which was not mine. There was about a bag and a half (y'know, those clear lawn and garden bags?) of clothes that belonged to two girlfriends of mine. I seriously thought I had returned all of it ages ago. I don't even recall if Cooper wore any of it. That's how long I've had it. I labeled the bags including one bag full of coats for the OPP coat drive. I also have two big bags of clothes that are like new and some name brand that I might take to the consignment store. But much of it still requires more organizing to find all the matching pieces.

So I ended up with three bags for the Salvation Army, two to return to my friends, one for the OPP, and two for me to keep and sort. Even without all these bags around, you'd think I hadn't done a thing. I did a mountain of laundry, and it is just that. A mountain. Sitting in baskets downstairs until I figure out what the hell to do with all of it. Then I noticed there are two more boxes of clothes I need to go through, but I'm fairly confident that it's all my stuff this time. ::sigh::

I changed all the bedding and rearranged our bedroom again. I turned the bed ninety degrees. It's a queen-sized bed in a very small room. I had to stand the mattress against one wall to be able to lift and turn the box spring. I got rid of a broken dresser and will be using the boys' changetable as my combination dresser/printer stand in our room. I'm still trying to remember all the other stuff I did, because it's mostly unnoticeable, behind-the-scenes stuff.

I took a short nap while Cooper did, and I took a break to make supper. An easy one, of fish sticks and shoestring fries and corn. The boys ate fairly well. I worked on and off throughout the evening too. We remembered the time change and Chris set the clocks before going to bed.

This morning I skipped church. I intended to do some more stuff. I did a few more loads of laundry and brought up all the clothing I was thrilled to discover would fit Cooper like NOW. Good timing, because he is outgrowing most of his pants and has been wearing shirts that Carter can still wear. I knew I had more clothing somewhere and am glad I unearthed it. For supper we had chicken legs and fettucine alfredo with asparagus. Yum. The boys took their requisite two bites or so and ran off once we were done. I quit rummaging in the basement with plenty of time to spare before Desperate Housewives came on.

So, Halloween was great and I am about to attempt uploading the pictures from it again. Chris took the kids out trick-or-treating. I stayed home and Cindy came to visit. Once Chris brought the boys home, Cindy took over the candy dishing, (to the one more kid that came over) so that we could take the kids to Auntie Lurdes & Uncle Cliff's house, Uncle Bob & Auntie Josie's house, Chris's Dad's place, Chris's Grandpa's house, Alana's house and Kelly's house. That took about an hour. The traffic was wild but it was a perfect evening weather-wise. I distinctly recall bitter coldness and harsh winds last year. It was cool but mild with no wind this year. The kids both brought home a bag of candy. We had a total of seven trick-or-treaters. Sad! Maybe it's because I didn't make treat bags for handing out at the house this year. Or that I didn't put out my trail of pumpkin candles to the door. Next year I'll light up the whole house and yard and see what happens. So as a result of the kids' haul and our lack of visitors, I have wayyy too much candy in the house. I started a new diet of tiny chocolate bars and mini bags of chips. Yikes.

That's about it for me. I'm spent. And my calves are killing me, presumably from climbing the stairs 9729652983745 times with all the heavy crap I heaved out of the house.

This is me at work. I made a fake nose out of ''creepy skin'' and painted my whole face green and black.


Nice schnozz!


Cooper as Eeyore and Carter as the scurvy pirate!


Arrrrrrrrr!


Sweet! I'm surprised I got this cute pose out of him!


Isn't this adorable? I took this one last night.

All Treated Out

Blogger is being a hyuuuuuge PITA. I'm going to sleep off my annoyance and try posting all the Halloween stuff tomorrow.