Wednesday, November 26

Busy days are here!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. The kids are already out of school for the week, and are going camping with my in-laws from Friday until Sunday. As of right now, only one is even awake but I believe the other is stirring (at almost 10 a.m.!). I have a ton of cleaning to do, and we'll be baking some good brownies later. Friday will be the day that I get to clean non-stop and I can get it all done-done. I refuse to go anywhere on Black Friday... but this year, JoAnn's is mighty tempting. I went 'shopping' in Mom's fabric over the weekend so I do have enough that I'll be using for gifts and gift bags. I found a book at the library that has a bunch of patterns and guidelines for gift bags from tiny (for gift cards) to huge (for something the size of a kid's bike). We already have all the store-bought gifts so all that's left is to wrap everything and make the few handmade gifts. My neices are getting dresses and a pillow each; my nephews are getting pj pants; I'm making either a dress or skirt, and a pair of pj pants, for myself; my kids will also get pj pants and maybe something else - they already have the pillows - and both sets of grandparents are getting something I've been working on all year. :-) That's the one that absolutely has to be finished up this weekend! I have more time for the others. I am so glad that all of our regular shopping is done though. It's a yearly goal to be finished by Thanksgiving Day!
Tomorrow we'll watch the Macy's parade and make a small breakfast. Unfortunately Poseidon has to work *all* day (just found out yesterday, his hours were changed) so we'll go to his mom's for a while too. When we get home sans kids I'll start the sewing, and work on it while running laundry on Friday. Hopefully Saturday I can sew all day and should be able to get at least two dresses and two pair of pants finished. All next week I'll work on the bags and wrap up some of the kids' presents. Once theirs are all wrapped up I'll have them help wrap gifts for their dad, and he'll have them help him with mine. I don't even know yet when we'll put up the tree and such, but hopefully within a couple of weeks.
Throughout all this, we also have to work on a Science Fair project for/with Boy. The Fair is in mid-January but he hasn't even chosen a project yet. We have been enjoying the show Time Warp and he absolutely loves the corn starch/water thing, so he's leaning in that direction for his project. We just have to get it approved by his science teacher because it would require corn starch and water, among other materials. I'll likely be online a lot helping with that, so I'll keep you all posted on it.
Well, "time to make the doughnuts". Happy Thanksgiving!

~A

Saturday, November 8

Happy Caturday!! (image heavy, give it time to load)

So it's a lazy, cold Saturday around here. While the kids went outside to play with their friends for a while, I took the time to read a little at Fark.com (link's down there on the right). Every Saturday is called "Caturday" and has been so for a while. The kids love looking at these pictures with me, and I snag the funniest ones.

Example:


Well today I've just been all sorts of giggly, thanks to the following pictures.

Here's your warning: you may not want any food or drink in your mouth, as you wouldn't want to accidentally spit it all out at the screen while laughing. No cats were harmed in the making of these pictures - unless you count "embarrassment" as harm. I'll keep it down to today's personal favorites, maybe 4 or 5 of them. You can click them to make them bigger if you need to. These are the ones that actually made me snort :-)






(explanation here if you need it)





I love Caturdays! I have a ton more saved, I'll try to sneak one or two into each post for a while :-)

Have a great week!
~A

Wednesday, November 5

A Mix of Topics

First, let me get this out of the way:



My first thoughts as I saw the election called last night:
I will be able to afford going to the doctor now!
I will be able to afford the Rx refills I've been putting off/saving for!
I will even be able to afford college now!

I sank to my knees and cried happily at this. I am still joyful today!


Whew, okay. Now on to the family stuff.
Halloween was a few days ago, so here are me and the kids dressed up:

I went out as Lily Munster this year. Bought a pink sleeveless nightgown at the Salvation Army store for $3; fabric for the bat sleeves, elastic, and ribbon I already had; wig was $12; makeup was $12 total (is that junk really always so expensive?!?); fake black fingernails were $2; and I already had the stockings and shoes. I will not wear those heels for walking around so much next time though! So instead of spending $70 on a store bought, too-small Lily costume, I got away with spending about $30 on it.
Suh-weeet :-)


You all know Tinkerbell, and she's standing beside her big brother - "Totally Skelly-Bones".

They got huge bags full of candy. Still have plenty left too. It was fun, even though Tinkerbell wanted to come home just before 7 o'clock. She'd had enough and was getting chilly. Skelly-Bones stayed out with a friend and his dad, and got home right at 8 - so his bag was *really* full! Not many kids guessed who I was, most actually thought I was Bat Woman. Works for me though :-) More of the grownups knew who I was dressed as, and complimented my outfit.

Next up - report card! Boy's report card came home last week too, and we owe him $15 for it:
Math 90/B
Science 96/A
SciQuest 100/A
Reading 89/B
Lang Arts 87/B
Spelling 65/D (that's the one he has to pay us for)
Soc Studies 82/C (cancels out the above payback)
Art 99/A
Music 89/B
P.E. 95/A


It was pretty satisfactory to us, but we know (and told him) that he can do better.

Girl's report card hasn't come home yet and I don't know when to expect it, but I will let you all know.

With that, it's time to go pick them up from school - it's such a nice day here that we're going to walk home! Tomorrow's supposed to be nice too, then the bottom will drop out so I intend to keep saving all the gas I can by walking. Have a great week!!

~A

Monday, November 3

Tomorrow's the big day

Don't forget!
Make time in your day!
Cast your vote!!

Most states, polls are open from 6a-6p. Take your ID with you, you might need it. Be prepared to wait, as some places are expecting long lines. Don't let that deter you though - voting is a RIGHT as well as a responsibility. And it's easy!

In about 24 hours, we'll know who our next president will be.

May the best man win!

Oh, and, returning soon will be the general, boring, family updates :-)
And pictures from Halloween. Coming by Saturday!