If We Entertain You, Remind Us Not To Serve You The Rotini

American Soldiers; The Often Overlooked National Treasure

Happy Veteran's Day!

And a big thank you to anyone who has served, is currently serving, or plans to serve this great country of ours! We could not be who we are or where we are without your brave efforts!

I chose to use pictures of the Korean Memorial in Washington D.C., not to single out a specific American conflict, but rather to commemorate a family vacation once observed by us in which we had the pleasure to witness this memorial firsthand. If you have not seen it, I would highly suggest placing it on your "bucket list". It is awesome!

Another Superwoman Joins The Ranks

So the first two disguises didn’t quite work out.

The witch costume (although appropriate for our toddler at times in terms of her demeanor) with black feathers at the sleeve ends and bottom, was thinner than it looked in the package and certainly SHORTER than it looked in the package. If she were older and tried to wear something like that out of the house, she would’ve been sent “to her room” for a changin’. So it was axed. I consoled S, who had her heart set on the “littlest witch”, that there were a number of years left for E to don a pointed black hat. If you ask me this disguise just becomes more fun with age anyhow as an older child will certainly put up with green face paint and fake nose warts longer than a toddler would anyway.

The bumblebee costume, with glittery wings and antenna headband, was adorable, but only if Halloween occurred in June instead of October. The temperature was in the low 40’s, so the bee was ditched for a more practical, more outrageous, more velvety, full armed and full legged, Superwoman (or Supergirl).

Besides, I am a HUGE fan of taking the total character a bit further than just wearing the costume. I mean, a true job well done is playing the part too, right? That being said, have you ever, EVER, seen a witch run like that?

Doctor Emily came over to play on Halloween and the two girls had a blast. They also stayed up WAY past their bedtimes, but I guess that's to be expected on a year when Halloween lands on a Saturday! S made that headband to complement the outfit, which prompted one parent on "the candy circuit" to pose the question "Did Superwoman wear a headband?". Who knows. All I know is I have Superwoman for a wife and Supergirl on Halloween.

After only a few houses, she already had the routine down; get in wagon, ride to next driveway, hop out and run up to steps, climb steps, mumble something (sometimes "Trick or Treat!") and reach into candy bowl with gloves (retrieving nothing and requiring assistance), go back to wagon, hold on tight to pumpkin handle, repeat. As a parent, it was adorable. We can't wait for next year!

Spook E For Halloween

Yes that's right, it's still clearly the end of October around here. As I download pictures and video of the big night, I remembered how much fun we had decorating the place with items we were too fearful to bring out last year. This translates into our Rocketship seeing many things for the first time - parenting gold. Check out the video.

Admittedly, I knew this would give her a start, and yes, I did stage this sequence allowing her to set of the motion-activated pumpkin. It was worth every effort just to catch her reaction. Note: similar to most kids, waving her hands in the air (usually wildly) is her way of communicating "all done", or in some cases such as this, "take it away" and/or "get me out of here".

At Least TRY To Keep It On The Paper Child!

How great is this internet fad? We (okay, I) LOVE it! I mean, seriously, something that once piqued the interest of us all has morphed into the medium in which we communicate, entertain, inquire, and more! Some of us are even paying our bills online too! Yea, I think this thing may stick around!

Well, singlehandedly I am trying to make the 'net even better. I woke and realized that E's artwork could be captured online (Aha!) for the purposes of sharing AND archiving.

Two minutes on the scanning bed and voila...her first finger painting project ever, made earlier this year:

Her second. Clearly she was feeling a bit more confident with the paints on this go:

And lastly, her third. Hmm, I really see a transition here. She must be in her "blue period".

Ha ha....LOVE this 'net!

The New Deal

Even though we haven’t been on here a ton lately, there have been a lot of things going on in the background. A quick summary of the mess:

HAVE happened since last post (list condensed):

· Our Rocketship is at a full-on run almost all the time – usually with a scream as she trots down the hall. Have you ever been behind an annoying driver that was either on the gas or on the brake? Yea, she’s pretty much like that – standing or running.

· We went to the Cider Mill last weekend. E met her girlfriend Emily and the two were quite the pair running around sitting on pumpkins, going down slides, riding ponies and eating sugary donuts (mmmmm!). This is such a tradition here isn’t it? You could tell a LOT of people had the same idea because it was PACKED!

· I have pretty much been sucked in to Facebook. Yes, I know, I know, I put up the largest wall of resistance for the longest time, but remember even the toughest of stone will yield to the constant drip of water – or in this case Facebook. It is EVERYWHERE, is it not? About a year ago a friend commented that she couldn’t live just one day without hearing someone mention the site. This statement is completely true! I have to admit though, and I do it here quietly, FB is pretty interesting. If you can get by the whole “everybody knows everything-ness” of it, it can be very informative.

· E can get into ALL the doors in the house! We have those handles that are like little levers and she is in and out of everything. Funny actually because I can remember exactly we were when we decided to have those handles installed instead of traditional “knobs”. I kick myself now, but it probably would have only bought us a few more months at best.

· Our (read: My) Craigslist addiction is in full swing. Yes, partly responsible for the scarcity of content on this blog lately is the big CL. We have made many purchases this summer. I have also been working to clean out the garage and basement of unwanted items through both CL and eBay (yes, eBay, we are back together…at least until my monthly statement comes due!). We have also been selling quite a bit lately. It must be my personality type, but I just love meeting strangers through this “virtual garage sale”.

HAVE NOT happened since last post:

· Wipeout has NOT called me. Grrr…waiting patiently here!

· I have not had any job offers, yet. I am still at home, for now. There have been some great opportunities though recently and I personally feel as though I am very, very close.

· Christmas shopping (ugh!) has not begun yet even though I have seen decorations out in some stores already (including full Christmas card displays!). As usual, we will wait until there is more panic in the air. Soon the local radio station will begin broadcasting “Wall-to-Wall” Christmas music until December 26th. Last year they started BEFORE Halloween if you can believe it!

Rock That Horse, Girl!

All she needs now are plastic cowgirl boots and a plastic 10-gallon hat!

What's that? Plastic chaps?

Now, let's not get carried away...