The Kidlet Chronicles

Two more sleeps!

I'm finally taking a much-needed and well-deserved break from work this week - a little later than I usually take it after the chaos of September, but better late than never.  Of course, one never really gets to relax on days off because there are a bajillion other things to do.  I guess to really 'get away from it all' you have to literally get away from it all, take a trip to the boonies or something.

The kidlet had her echocardiogram at the hospital this morning and was a real trooper.  She didn't like the feel of the goo, nor the occasional pressure the technician had to place while she looked at the kidlet's heart from a variety of angles, but she laid as still as she could even though I could tell by her eyes that she wasn't quite sure what was going on, nor what to make of it.  I kept drawing her attention to the screen and she kept saying 'hey, something's jumping around in there!'.  I told her it was her heart but I think the scope of it is a little beyond her at this point.

I knelt on the floor next to her and held her hand, kept the other hand near her head, and talked to her the whole time.  Even though it was nothing major, it's still heartbreaking to see your small child laying there in such a huge bed with a few sticky heartrate patches on her.  I'm hoping that the results will be what the cardiologist predicted - that there has been no change or better yet, slight improvement.  If so, we don't have to do this again for another three years.

We came home, had lunch, and I finally set up our Halloween air globe outside.  The kidlet loved it and was so excited she didn't want to go back into the house but it was COLD out and neither of us were wearing coats.
So we came inside and I created a couple plastic bag ghosts then ran out once more to hang them in our stumpy tree (the one that took me two days to chop down).  Pics are at the bottom.

Then I spent two hours on the phone with StarChoice because we have 3 HD channels that aren't coming through for some reason, and haven't been for some time.  Over half an hour of that time was waiting to actually speak to a technician (for some reason, they have huge waiting periods all of a sudden), the rest was trying this thing and that to get it working again to no avail. So, after all that (such a waste of time grrr I hate that), they're sending a technician out on Thursday to have a look before sending us a replacement receiver.  Nothing can ever be easy, can it?  But on a brighter note - that price adjustment I was trying to get from Sears for the kidlet's bed?  The one where I tried at two different stores and they were absolutely no help at all?  I finally emailed them.  They emailed back saying someone would get a hold of me.  I emailed again four days later.  They emailed back apologizing for the delay and said someone would get a hold of me soon.  Finally yesterday, they wrote saying they would give me the credit but get this - it took them so long that Home Depot now has the pieces on sale so I'm getting a bigger credit than I initially thought - $200 instead of $100.  Sweet!

Onto the Halloween decor:

The three pumpkins I carved.  (The cat was the one I did yesterday and I seriously think I over-exerted my right tricep because it is KILLING me today.)  I quickly lit the candles, snapped these shots, blew out the candles and ran back into the warm house.

The inflatable ghost.  Which I just unplugged because are you supposed to keep those things running all night?  Hopefully it will be okay out there deflated on the lawn all night, but I really don't feel like unhooking all the tethers and everything to bring it in every night.

The plastic bag ghosts hanging in what's left of the shrub/tree.  Yes, blurry - cold, dark, brrrr.

Looks like it's not going to rain for Halloween so that's a bonus!  I can't wait!  Two more sleeps!

Do the Boo

If I alternate eating chocolate-covered almonds and mandarin oranges, do they cancel each other out?  Yeah?  Great!

Today, the kidlet went to her first musical - The Great Big Boo.  I started telling her about it yesterday, showed her the website, introduced her to all the characters and the storyline, and printed off the colouring pages just so she'd be somewhat familiar when we sat down to watch it.  She was totally excited even though I'm sure she didn't quite know what it was all about, this whole 'play' thing.

As Dean couldn't join us, Dad came with us, and as we were walking in, the kidlet kept saying how excited she was.  We were six rows from the front and right in the center - perfect seats (yay for online presales!) and the kidlet waited patiently, literally on the edge of her seat, for the fifteen minutes or so until the production was to start.

(oops, forgot to focus)  The kidlet was too busy looking around to actually look at me.  They sold all kinds of memorabilia, so Dad splurged and bought the kidlet one of those spinning pumpkin flashlight thingies.

The lights dimmed as the play started and the kidlet was mesmerized the entire time.  The only time she cuddled up to me was when the witch came on - she was a little scary, I guess, in that she kept saying she hated Halloween and there would be no Trick or Treating in Boo Alley - stuff like that.  Then she said the audience was full of stinky children, which I thought was kinda funny but the kidlet was too concerned about what havoc the witch was about to create.   Which was not much.  In the end, she turns good and puts on a happy face and Halloween is saved.

The music was catchy, the dancing was good - it was a cute little show. In the beginning, the Scarecrow (narrator) asked all the kids to shout their name.  The kidlet shouted hers so loud she was shaking - probably a mixture of yelling at the top of her lungs and adrenaline from being so stinkin' excited.  She didn't always respond when they asked the audience something but hey, it was her first show.

During the intermission, they played canned music and some of the kids ran up front and started dancing - mine included.  So cute.  She really got down to the "Purple People-Eater".  While I was up front with her, Dad chatted to the woman sitting beside me who was with her daughter and get this - she asked how long we had been married.  Ha!  So that means either I look old or Dad looks young.  She mentioned it to me when I sat back down, then started talking about having kids in her early forties and how many of her friends did too.  I blurted out that I was 37 just because.  I've got a few more years to go until 40 - sheesh!  I guess I'm lookin' old.  She did mention to Dad that he looked too young to have a daughter as old as me.  Ugh, there's that 'old' again.  You're only as old as you feel, right?  Right?  So I guess I look about 90 right now...

After the show, they had 'trick or treating' with all the characters, although it was an absolute madhouse of kids and parents and trying to get TO the characters.  We managed to squeeze in to see a few of them, the kidlet got some candy in her grab bag, then I was getting claustrophobic and got us the heck out of there.

I'll definitely take her again next year.  Here are some photos:

Vinne the Vampire, afraid of the dark until given a flashlight.  I heard the kidlet singing 'the flashlight song' long after this number.

Cranium the Mad Scientist, searching for a potion to make the witch nice again.

Wolfgang the Werewolk, aka the Rock Star.  No real role other than rockin' it.

The kidlet taking a break from dancing during the intermission.

Priscilla the Princess, who didn't know how to be a princess until she was taught how to speak properly instead of valley-girlish.

Frankie the Monster, who dreamed of being a lounge singer.  He was told you can be anything you want on Halloween - so he was!

The witch doing this little stepping/dancing thing she did.  See, not so scary, but the kidlet felt otherwise.

The final 'Do the Boo' number - super catchy.  I still find myself humming it.

 

Why do I do this to myself?

As much as a part of me would love to be all Martha Stewart-like - crafty, homemaker-y, and good at it - I'm just not and from the dozens of times I've humiliated myself by even trying to attempt something crafty, you'd think I'd learn.  But no.  I will not admit defeat.  And so, dear friends and family, I have humiliated myself yet again. 

This afternoon when the kidlet and I scooted out to pick up some groceries, she noticed a neat-looking Halloween Haunted Gingerbread House kit on the shelf.  I glanced at it - it was made by the same company that created the Halloween cookie decorating package I tried last year.  Here was last year's cookie package:

And here's what MY cookies turned out like:

As you can see, not even close.  At least I chose the correct colours, but other than that, the icing was super gooey and super hard to squeeze out of the little plastic packages they came in.  Actually, the small pic above makes then look not half bad but trust me, they were.  But the kidlet still had a blast putting the candies on them all and they tasted pretty darn good, so all was okay.

So.  The gingerbread kit.  Now I can't recall ever making a gingerbread house before but it could have been so traumatic that I just blocked the memory.  So I thought it would be fun, seeing as how I'm all into the Halloween thing this year.  So I bought it.

You know where this is going, don't you?  For your reading pleasure and at my expense, a photo diary:

The kidlet holding up the box and the contents.  It's all there, everything you'd need.  Too bad it didn't come with a skill implant.

A close-up of the gingerbread house.  I knew there was going to be some trouble because it totally looked like some kind of tip was used for the icing and not just a hole in the plastic bag, but I wasn't too worried about it - I'd just copy the patterns and colours and everything would be hunky dory, right?

I managed to stick the gingerbread pieces together using the icing as they described in the instructions.  They said to wait 15 minutes - I waited almost an hour until we were finished dinner and could continue.  Looks good so far, right?  Look how stoked the kidlet is.

In progress.  You can see here that I've royally screwed it up already.   The icing?  DOESN"T STICK.  So to get the icing on the side windows, I had to tip the whole thing over slightly.  But it went okay, once I figured out how to get the icing to stay put, sort of.  But then I had to smear the black icing on the roof.  As I was doing so, the roof pieces started to slide, slide, slide.  So I ended up picking each one off and slathering the sticky, gooey, glue-like and totally unpliable icing that way.  Then I stuck the roof sides back on and held them there for a minute or so.  As you can tell, I pressed a little too hard on one side.  Oops.  But that's okay, it's a haunted house and not supposed to look totally pristine.  That big circle thing above the door?  Is supposed to be a spider web but looks like a ship's compass.  Icing was too thick.

The finished product.  Doesn't look so bad.  (Ahem.)  The roof seems to be caving a bit more and some of the candies on top have fallen into the house, but still.  The kidlet managed to put more candies on the house than she ate but the telltale black icing still lingers on her lips. 

Here is that close-up again of what it SHOULD have looked like, and...

...here is a close-up of my version.  I didn't even bother with icing the corners or anything else other than the roof because my hand was cramping up from squeezing the crap out of the icing and besides, it WOULDN'T STICK.  BAH!

I call their packaging 'false advertising'.  Nobody could do that good of a job without proper icing bags and tips and the patience of a Saint and the skill of Martha.

Then, something happened.  A change in the air currents in the room, or maybe the kidlet just breathed on it.

Both roof pieces started sliding.  The kidlet thought it was hilarious.  I said, 'apparently, the icing doesn't stick so well' and for some reason, she kept calling the haunted house 'parently'.  'Parently is falling apart, Mama!'.  Apparently, it was.  Perhaps I used too MUCH icing when sticking the roof pieces back on.  The more I tried to fix it and put the roof pieces back up, the worse it got, until...

...and...

...this is the final masterpiece.  It completely collapsed as I brought it into the office to 'display' it (or hide it, more likely).  The kidlet keeps looking at it and laughing.  I keep looking at it and groaning, as I do EVERY TIME I try to attempt something like this. 

At least it will be easy to pull apart for eating.

Is it Halloween yet?

because my candy is quickly being depleted by my sugar-addicted alter ego.  It started with a small, small cut in the corner of one bag and the taking of one small Tootsie Roll.  The small small cut somehow grew bigger to accommodate a hand scrounging for a specific treat but only one or two were disappearing every day.  Then strangely, a tear appeared in a second bag, the one with mini chocolate bars, and one or two of those a day were going missing as well.  Before I knew it, the last box of candy looked like it was ripped open by a werewolf.  My alter ego must have been hungry that night.

I guess she thinks that by having both the two bags and the one box opened that the missing candy would be dispersed between all three and thereby not look as bad as it was, but the telltale wrappers in the wastebasket beside my desk tell a different story, one of handfuls of Tootsie Rolls both big and small, shredded Oh Henry wrappers, gooey Reeses Peanut Butter cup cups, and Smarties boxes damp from being opened on one end and stuck directly into the mouth, foregoing the 'melt in your hands' thing.

So Halloween had better come quickly before I start to look like a lumpy-butted, acne-infested teenager.  Of course, even then there will be all the kidlet's candy to gorge on.  Sigh.  There will be no winning at this.  You think I'd just accept it.

So to burn off all the yummy goodness, I decided, since it was also sunny today, to start chopping down the Shrub from Hell.  You know, the one that was infested by those icky beetles who decimated it to nearly nothing?  Who killed half the tree then laid their eggs on the remaining branches?  Ick.  Plus, the thing is overgrown and blocking the stairs from the sidewalk up to the house.  So I grabbed the pruning thingy and started chopping away.  Then chopped some more to make the large branches into twigs small enough to shove into a big orange garbage bag.

Four very full garbage bags and three hours later, I was drenched with sweat (it was hot today, believe or not, or maybe I'm just completely out of shape and the slightest effort makes me sweat like a pig), had bugs crawling around in my hair from chopping down the higher branches (the 'shrub' must be almost 10 feet tall in spots), and sticky hands from grabbing handfuls of white-gooey-bug infested leaves.  I'll have to finish off the rest tomorrow - whee!  I'm totally looking forward to that!  (not)

So after showering and yanking the bugs and dirt out of my hair and rinsing off the layer of slime on my skin, I treated myself with a treat.  What?  I earned it!  Then I had another because the kidlet wanted one and I couldn't let her eat alone.  Sigh, the things a Mother has to do.

And now I'm SORE.  Ow.  But I want that dang shrub GONE GONE GONE ew GONE.  So by tomorrow night, it should be done.  Then I'll just have to figure out how to get rid of 7 or 8 garbage bags of bugs, twigs and leaves.  You know, it might have been easier to just pay someone to come and cut it down in one fell swoop and take it away but where would the fun have been in that?

Heh.  Heheh. 

Halloween prepping and burning

The cold weather looks like it's here to stay, complete with the usual torrential downpours that accompany the sudden drop in temperature.  It's horrible out there, folks, and I'm in desperate need of a new winter coat/jacket.  The zipper busted on the one I have and as I've worn it through nearly two full winters, it is time to retire it.  Also, I'm sick of it.  So there.

I hate buying winter coats because I can never find one I like.  Is it too much to ask to have waterproof, super warm AND be stylish and not appear as though I'm heading out skiing?  I'd love a shearling coat (faux, of course) but they're not so great in the rain.  I want something warm but not bulky, something that looks good with jeans AND my work clothes.  I am still hunting.  I'll probably just end up with another mountain jacket because I hate to carry an umbrella everywhere and at least with one of those, I stay warm AND dry.

I know.  Like you care.  Sorry - it was the first thing that popped into my ever-full brain to write about.

Today, I carved our first pumpkin with new my carving set and patterns (I love ebay!).  It turned out half decent, if you ignore the spaghetti-like strands of pumpkin sticking out at the back of the carved portions and the fact my tracing got a little crooked here and there.  Good thing I picked an easy one to start with.  Alas, no pictures.  Will try and take one tomorrow when I attempt pumpkin number two.  Then there will be two more to go!  Why oh why did I buy FOUR pumpkins?  Maybe I'll just draw a face on one.  Or two.  That's if I could draw, which I totally can't.  Or maybe I'll leave them as is and stick them in the grass to add some colour to the clover-infested lawn.  Naw, too boring.  Carved they will be - despite my cramping hand from that puny little carving saw that came in the kit.  Still easier than a kitchen knife but they must have been made for little people and not people like me with gargantuan hands.

I also set up our pumpkin lights along the walkway and managed to break only one of the ten while jamming the stakes into the ground.  Go me!  (groan)  So all I have to set up now is the big blow-up thing, but I need to find another extension cord, I think.  And try not to literally blow it up.

I made an attempt at roasting the pumpkin seeds but I'm not sure if I did it right.  They're crunchy but they taste kinda blah.  They need WAY more salt - I'm always so stingy with the salt.  Never use it except to boil water.  And they taste a little... burnt... even though they don't look burnt.  But I seem to be burning everything lately so it is possible.  Guess I can try again tomorrow with a new batch.  Any tips on how to do it?

Please tell me I'm not the only one getting a head start on Halloween.  I think I have two neighbours in a several-block radius that have something out already.

I got nothin'

Nothing much to report.  Worked yesterday.  On my lunch hour, I ran over to Sears to try and get a price adjustment on the bed we bought for the kidlet, because hello, Home Depot has it for a hundred bucks cheaper.  I get there and of course, I get the new girl on her first day.  Didn't have a clue what to do and everything she tried to do didn't work.  So she kept running away to ask the ghosts in the back, then coming back to say that her boss was getting water/on a break and no one else knew what to do.  I waited for a few minutes and the Boss Lady showed up.  And guess what?  She didn't have a clue what to do, either. 

So they photocopied all the documentation I gave them (which took forever because they were copying on their ancient fax machine) and told me they'd get back to me by the end of the day.  Did they?  No.  And I actually forgot about the whole thing until I just started writing this.  So now I'm going to have to call somebody and go through the whole freaking thing again.  This really irks me.  It irks me because I waited until I had enough time, when I didn't have the kidlet with me, until the near last day (you're allowed to get an adjustment within 30 days of receiving the product), to get all of this done and guess what?  It doesn't get done.  So now I have to sit on hold forever and be transferred to this person and that person and probably be told to head to my nearest catalogue office and do it in person.  Which I've tried to do TWICE now.  Can they not get it together?  It's a POLICY.  It was posted on a little sign right at the counter, every small-printed word of it.

Irked.  Yes.  I don't have time for this.  I was so irked that I splurged on some retail therapy and bought myself some new cosmetics at the Bobbi Brown counter in Holt Renfrew.  Luckily, I still had a gift card left over from Christmas last year because ouch - that stuff ain't cheap.  But I love it and it makes me happy and helps me not look so much like death warmed over so there!  And it made me forget about Sears until this moment, so it's also magic!

Boss Man mentioned the other day that I seem a little 'stressed out'.  I told him I don't really feel stressed as much as burned out.  September was, as it always is, crazy at work.  I worked so much overtime, I was pretty much logging full-time hours.  I normally take the first or second week of October off to recuperate but there's still so much going on that I just haven't had the chance.  So I remind the Boss Man of this, how I'm like this every October but I normally take time off, and he says to make sure I take the time if I need it - then he proceeds to give me a huge list of things to do.  Ha!  Gotta love him!

So I'm taking it easy on my off hours lately.  Well, as easy as one can take it with an energetic, ever-talking child underfoot (sometimes quite literally - she loves to sit under my desk and talk to the cat, and use my legs as a 'door').  The fatigue may continue but at least I have some decent concealer now to hide those bags!

And lo and behold, apparently I DID have something to talk about (funny how that works).

Pumpkin patch, year three

Does this Halloween thing ever get old?  I certainly hope not.  It's so much fun!

Yesterday we went to the same farm we went to last year and met up with my mom, my brother and my niece.  It was a gorgeous sunny day, warm enough at one point to take our coats off, a nice change from the last two years where it's been cold and clammy.  We arrived upon opening and already the parking lot was packed (we got the last spot), but there was still room to move inside (unlike how busy it was when we left a couple hours later - the line-up was huge just to get in).

The kidlet posing in front of Mater.

Next stop, the pony rides.  No line-up, so the kidlet got on 'Chevy' and away she went.  Didn't even need someone to hold onto her this time.

While we waited for Paige to have her turn, Mom pushed the kidlet on this horse-like swing thing.  It was probably as comfortable as it looked, as the kidlet wanted off it rather quickly.

Then it was on to the hayride to the pumpkin patch, where I picked up four near-perfectly shaped pumpkins (um, that Mom found for me, as I was too busy snapping photos to look at pumpkins.  Speaking of photos, can you believe I've taken 6,000 photos since I got my DSLR camera?).  My carving set came in the mail today and I can't wait to put it to use!  Much easier than the kitchen knives we've been using for Halloween past!

The kidlet pointing at a Daddy Long Legs spider.

Finally, we gave into the kidlet's pleading and let both kids bounce around on the Jumping Pillow.  The kidlet jumped for about five minutes before freaking out and wanting off (too bouncy, too many kids, etc).

One of the few tentative bounces.

What is with Old Navy jeans?  This is the first pair I've bought her and this is what they do.  I thought it might have been because they were too loose, so I tightened the adjustable waist, but it didn't help all that much.  Still flashing her plumber's butt to everyone every time she bends over.  Dang - they're such cute jeans too.  They should NOT make LOW-RISE jeans for little kids!  Come on!

Okay, rant over.  I'm just sayin'.

Paige tried to get her to jump some more, which she did for about three more jumps before she was Done.

We then stopped for something to eat because I was getting wicked shakes.  I wolfed down a hot dog and had a bottle of fresh apple cider and it still took a while for the shakes to subside.  Then it was on to the petting zoo, where the kidlet fed the goats crusty old leaves:

What would those even taste like?  Styrofoam, I would imagine, not that I'd know what Styrofoam tastes like... no really, I don't.  But I can imagine.

Mom getting attacked by some over-zealous goats who wanted those dead leaves and NOW.

Two hours after arriving and $16 in pumpkins later, it was time to head home.  We all went back to Mom's first and gulped down coffee in order to perk up, but it didn't work.  We all crashed on the couch and watched a movie with the kids, then my brother and I dragged our sorry butts off the couch to head home.  So.  Freaking.  Tired.  I get tired just thinking about how tired I was yesterday afternoon.  But it was fun nonetheless.  The kidlet had a great time.

And now I'm dying to start carving the pumpkins but I don't want to do it too soon.  I'll try and hold off until this weekend.  I don't want rotting pumpkins on our front steps come Halloween night.  But I AM going to tape up our little construction paper Halloween thingies the kidlet and I created.  It's not too early for that, is it?

On a completely unrelated note, I took the kidlet to her yearly cardiologist appointment today and the doc says everything looks great - may have even improved.  It's been almost three years since her last ultrasound/echocardiogram, so I've got an appointment to take her in a couple weeks, but the doctor seems to think that nothing will have changed and if that's the case, we won't have to see her again for another three years.  Yippee!

Adventures in yard maintenance

As it was finally sunny for two days in a row, long enough for the grass to dry, I forced myself to get out and mow our overgrown lawn.

We have a push mower and damn, you really have to PUSH that thing.  My triceps, atrophied from years of lack of use (other than that small bout of weight training I did when we first bought the home gym - why oh why does the novelty wear off so FAST?), were burning in protest.  And considering both our front and back yards are rather small, it still takes forever to mow.  Why is that?

Of course, it didn't help that every time I got in a mowing groove, the kidlet would be call to me for this or that, scream because the lawnmower 'scared her', run out of the house with her pants down around her ankles, or hide and cry 'cause she had to poop.  I had to come into the house to find out what was wrong several times (which is another reason I put off mowing for so long - the kidlet seems to be incredibly demanding whenever I'm NOT able to rush to her every need).  Anyway, HOURS later (okay, it was probably only an hour, but my flaming arms begged to differ), I finished mowing. 

Then, it was on to weed whacking, something I have never attempted before but felt compelled to do as I stared at four-foot-high dandelion weeds in our back yard and the foot of grass along all the lawn and rock garden edges.  I grabbed the weed whacking contraption from the shed, figured out which direction was up, and stared at it for a while wondering where the 'on' button was.  But no.  Our whacker is gas-powered.  I finally found some teensy instructions on the frame that mentioned something about priming, a throttle, and a choke.  I used to drive a manual-transmission vehicle, so I'm familiar with the choke thing, but that was about it.  It was a little dial that said 'half', 'full' and 'run'. 

After staring at it a little longer, I decided to give it a shot.  I pushed the primer button and saw gasoline squirt into it.  That's a good sign, isn't it?  Then I started yanking the dickens off of the pull-thingie (I'm sure there's a technical name for it) while I tried to keep the whacker still to avoid chopping anyone's head off (not an easy task).  No more than four times, as the directions stated, until it sounded like it was going to start.  Never heard it sound even close to starting.  Then I checked the choke and I had it on 'run' instead of 'half', where it was supposed to be.  Ooops.

So I turned it to 'half' and tried again.  Nothing.  Turned it to full.  Nothing.  Kept pulling as hard as I could on the pull-cord while trying not to let the entire thing go flying out of my hands.  I put it on the deck and tried there.  Still nothing.

After about fifteen minutes, I gave up.  My arm no longer had any strength and the smell of gas was making me nauseous.  So I put the weed whacker back and grabbed the edger.  The edger had a cord, so that was promising.  I found the extension cord - another bonus.  I plugged it in, set it on the edge of the front walkway and turned it on.

I didn't do half bad.  There were a few instances when I veered off into the grass, leaving claw-like marks in the lawn, and a few other instances where I wasn't exactly RIGHT next to the walkway and ended up with a half-inch thick 'edge', plus several instances where the grass was so dang thick I had to go over it several times and STILL ended up with some still attached that I ended up yanking out by hand.  I got as far as the extension cord would take me, which was about halfway, and again gave up.  I was exhausted.  And sweaty.

Then the kidlet and I manually yanked a bunch of weeds out of the garden in the front (ooh, those prickly buggers are NASTY), and scooped up cat poop out of the garden box in the back.  Damn cats.  It took a while sorting through all the lumps, determining which were poop and which were daffodil/tulip bulbs.  I then peeled an orange and threw chunks of the rind on top of the garden - that's supposed to help, isn't it?  Somebody told me it would, just can't remember who or if that's what they were referring to.  Guess we'll find out if it works.  I'm so garden-challenged it's not even funny.

Oh yardwork, how I detest thee. 

And I'm hoping that will be the last of yard work until Dean's back.  Other than the beetle-egg-infested shrub we have out front that I've got to either chop down myself in pieces with the pruning shears or hire somebody to chop down and take it away.  I'm siding with the latter.  Either way, it has GOT to come down.  The beetles decimated it this summer and I so don't want them hanging around again.  Ick.  Plus it's taking up half our walkway and I don't want any kids poking their eyes out on Halloween. 

Speaking of which, I talked to a neighbour and she said I should expect around 250-300 kids for Halloween.  Holy hell, batman, them's a lotta kids.  I bought three jumbo bags of candy at Costco yesterday (then spent 2 hours in traffic coming home in the middle of the day - arrgh), so I'm guesstimating I have about 400 pieces of candy.  Almost enough for 2 for each kid.  But when you take into account that I have now opened TWO of the bags, I may have to account for a loss of several of those items and will probably have to buy another bag just to be sure, OR be chintzy and just give the kids one candy each.  And leave the rest for me.  Ahem.  (In my defense, I've only had one little candy yesterday and one today.  So far, that is.) 

Oh Halloween, how I love thee.

Making friends everywhere

Yesterday afternoon, I dragged the kidlet to the shoe store with me so I could pick up a pair of boots that were 1) actual leather and 2) didn't have a broken zipper (as they say, you get what you pay for - those cheapie boots lasted me about two months).  While there, I sent her off to the back of the store to the kid's section where they had several television screens playing an animated movie while I grabbed about 8 boxes, sat down, and started trying everything on.

Suddenly, I heard the kidlet say "Mama!  Mama!  Where are you?" as she came racing down the aisle towards me.  I poked my head out and she ran up to me, totally excited. 

"Guess who I met?" she asked, beaming.

"I don't know, sweetie.  Who did you meet?"   

Judging by her excitement I assumed it was somebody we knew, but the kidlet shyly pointed across the aisle to a young couple that I had never seen before in my life.  They continued to stand there and I continued to gape at them before saying, "Uh, hi!" (yes, I'm very eloquent, aren't I?).

"They're my new friends," the kidlet explained.

"Oh, okay," I said (boy, I was on a roll).  "Sorry!" I said to them, not sure what the kidlet had told them or if she had been a pest or told them that her mother had abandoned her or something.  It didn't seem that way - they were smiling and laughing.  I'm thinking maybe she just started talking to them then told them to help her find her Mom.  Something like that.  It was kinda awkward, at any rate.  I was taken by surprise and I just don't think quickly on my feet, especially feet that were currently jammed into too-small too-high boots.

A minute later (or so - it felt like a lot longer with all of us just kinda standing there), they said they had to go and said goodbye to the kidlet.  As soon as they were gone she said,  "Okay.  I'm going to go meet more people" and away she went.  I could hear her talking to people (What are you doing?  What kind of shoes are those?  Why are you buying those ones?) and everyone she spoke to patiently answered all her questions and mentioned how cute she was when they came my way.  Wish I had that kind of confidence to just go up to strangers and start up a conversation, but then again, I'm not an adorable three-year-old, so they'd probably just think I was creepy and back away.

Part of me knew I should probably drag her away from everyone but I really wanted to get through the boots and didn't want to stay there any longer than I needed to, so I just let her go.  She was having fun, she wasn't running amok, nobody seemed to be getting annoyed, I wasn't spending all my time hovering over her, and we were out in record time - for us, that is.  It still took longer than it should have as it always does with a kid in tow.

So.  As proud as I am of her striking up intelligible conversations with complete strangers, the whole 'stranger' thing has me a little concerned.  They were all great, but I'm sure there are some people who would rather NOT be bothered by a chatty kid.  Plus there's the whole 'stranger danger' thing.  Is it too early to start telling her to leave people alone?  She won't understand it.  And I don't want her to revert back to being afraid of everyone.  Kids come up to me all the time and start yapping, and I just yap right back.   What do you tell your chatty kids, if anything?

Time, she flies

The long weekend wasn't nearly long enough.  What's with that?  Saturday night, the kidlet and I went to a friend's place for their daughter's third birthday party (the kidlet and their four kids were the only kids there).  The kidlet had a blast playing with the 6, 3 (birthday girl) and 18 month old (the fourth is only a couple months old).  They had a bazillion toys (many of which gave me ideas for Santa) and we stayed until well past all of their bedtimes.  I had to drag the kidlet away from their tea party and we finally got home just before 10.  I placed a sleeping kidlet in bed, clothes and all, and crashed myself soon after.  She still woke up before 7.  Groan.

Sunday?  Was grocery day as we were sorely lacking in the food department.

Monday we went to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving and I must say, it was a hoot.  My brother's family was there too and as usual, we laughed a lot.  Mom tried to get all serious at the dinner table, asking what we were all thankful for, but she should have known better.  Dad, me and Andrew all started cracking jokes.  She did her thanks seriously, finally got Dad to say a sentence or two and my brother as well grudgingly offered up ONE non-joke.  Then we changed the subject and I was scot-free!  Free!  Not that I don't have anything to be thankful for, but our family is not really a mushy one - we all know how we feel and that's enough.  Mush feels weird.  So cracking jokes is our way of saying 'ah heck, I love yous guys!'.  Besides, I wrote that poem on my Thanksgiving card so technically, I had already given thanks.  So there!

Dad carving the bird.

The kidlet and her cousin clowning around.

The clan.  The kidlet is using two forks as 'music instruments'.  I desperately need another haircut.

After a delicious turkey dinner, we lovingly left Mom to do up the dishes (but she insisted! Really!) while the rest of us took the kids to the playground and threw (or in my case, tried to throw) a Frisbee around until we were all tuckered out (all of us except the kidlet who ran non-stop the entire time and was still going strong). 

She really did run the entire time, chasing the Frisbee every which way.

The Old Man gets airborne.  His pumpkin shirt is blinding.

The kidlet loves to climb.

My almost nine-year-old niece.

My oh-so-graceful attempt at catching the dang thing.  I couldn't possibly be hamming it up for the camera.  Oh no.  Not I.

We went back home and had some pumpkin pie and whipping cream (mmmmm... whipping cream) until we were about to burst.  Somehow, we all ended up in Dad's office while he burned us some DVDs and that's when the REAL fun started.

Dad had a bag of balloons.  He blew up a long skinny one (bat) and a small round one (ball) for the kidlet to bat around.  Then he blew up another round one.  And another.  And another bat.  And another.  Before we knew it, the entire family was sitting in a circle in the middle of the office batting a dozen balloons around at each other and killing ourselves laughing because have you TRIED to bat a balloon?  They don't go very far, nor do they go where you want them to go, so we were whacking each other in the heads with them and getting very dizzy trying to keep on top of all of them.  Priceless.  We must have batted those things around for an hour.  How many families end their evenings like that?

So THAT'S one of the things (amongst many many others) that I'm thankful for - a family that will never grow up and will always find something to joke about.  Laughter really is the best medicine, isn't it?

The Chief Ham.

(PS - you can click to embiggen the pics.  If you really want to, that is.)