Yesterday my daughter and I had WAY too much fum at the grocery store. She was wearing a princess dress that she LOVES for the first time to school yesterday and at lunch I gave her chocolate milk. She accidentally spilled some of the milk on her new bubblegum pink sweater dress adorned with all the princesses and I was scared it would be stained forever - but as luck would have it we were at the grocery store picking up apples for Patrick's class party. I sauntered over to the laundry aisle and decided to try out that Tide Stain Stick Pen thing that is all the rage. I opened it up in the aisle (I know BAD shopper but hey I was going to buy it!) and started using it.

 

She laughed rolling around the cart seat because it was tickling her. Her laughter was contagious and soon we were cleaning, laughing and gigling throughout the store. I got everything we needed, the stains were removed and life at the Albertson's has never been sweeter - What a fun way to erradicate a stain! Laughing and c`leaning while shopping - talk about multitasking! I am a fan for life! Seriously, the stains disappeared before my eyes I have never seen anything like it - it was like magic...how appropriate for this time of year - now I really am a Witch!

So yesterday we went to a Halloween Party. Everyone was dressed and excited - my kids truly take after me and LOVE this season. Anyway the kids and I have been practicing some spooky stories (one is below) and in one that I am not sharing here, about a ghost with one black eye, RIleyanne's BIG part at the end is to say to the mean old ghost, "If you dont be nice and leave us alone you're gonna be the ghost with TWO black eyes!" and so she has been practicing. I know this is a long way around the park, but work with me. At the party yesterday some of the kids had designated Riley to be the "Bad" guy that they all ran away from. I get sensitive about it because they always seem to pick her to be the bad guy and after the party I am left trying to console her because she wonders why she always has to be the bad guy. So I said, "Hey guys take turns being the bad guy, ok?" and my two good friends Sue and Cathia said, "Who are you protecting, Riley or the others??" and we all laughed because Riley is a bit of a spit fire and actually can handle herself just fine I should have stayed out. As evidenced by what happened next: Apparently she wanted to talk to her friends about not being nice to her. We have been trying to empower the kids to represent themselves in a crisis instead of intervening. "Go tell so and so what is bothering you and ask them to stop - if that does not work come get me" we usually say.

 

So I look down full of short felt pride at my son who rallies the girls to say, "Listen guys, my little sister Riley has something important she is tryingt to say, go ahead Riley";

 

and so  Riley responded pulling herself to her full height, "Listen, if you dont start being nice to me I'm gonna give you THREE black eyes!"

 

Oh dear - well I guess I should stop defending her and START teaching her how to approriately talk to her friends.

 

And now, a little halloween humor for you, once Patrick got this he laughed and laughed -

 

One night a vampire bat flew into his cave all covered in blood. His friends all gathered around him and said, "Wow! Where'd you get all that blood? We want some, we want some too" they all said. Then they begged and pleaded to be shown where he got it. So he finally gave in and said, "Well, if you really must know," and he flew out the cave door with his friends curiously following behind.

     .

He flew to a nearby forest and wove his way through the trees until he came to a big, tall tree in the center. Then he turned and asked his friends, "Do see this tree?" and they all shook their heads excitedly.

  .

"Well, I didn't," he replied......

 

I do not know who wrote this - but it is lovely -

Stone

  

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING
THROUGH THE DESERT
DURING SOME POINT OF THE
JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN
ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND
SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE
IN THE FACE

  

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED
WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT
SAYING ANYTHING,
WROTE IN THE SAND

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE

THEY KEPT ON WALKING,
UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,
WHERE THEY DECIDED
TO TAKE A BATH

THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN
SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE
MIRE! AND STARTED DROWNING,
BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM
THE NEAR DROWNING,
HE WROTE ON A STONE:

"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SAVED MY LIFE"

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED
AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND
ASKED HIM, "AFTER I HURT YOU,
YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW,
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?"

THE FRIEND REPLIED
"WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US
WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN
IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.
BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES
SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,
WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE
WHERE NO WIND
CAN EVER ERASE IT"

LEARN TO WRITE
YOUR HURTS IN
THE SAND AND TO
CARVE YOUR
BENEFITS IN STONE.

THEY SAY IT TAKES A
MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL
PERSON, AN HOUR TO
APPRECIATE

THEM, A DAY
TO LOVE THEM, BUT THEN
AN ENTIRE LIFE
TO FORGET THEM.

Hey - my hubby who is working his arse off in LA this week, recently wrote and article and it was published! He just told me he got a few advanced copies while on the road - pardon me while I get big chested and happy for him - he works VERY hard....YAY you, Harry!

I have seen this before and still cracked up - just thought I would share some humor - I dont know the author but it is worth the read:

 

Here is the recipe I am trying tonight: I will be adding Shrimp to the saute though -

 

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 3 tablespoons sliced black olives
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

A little too little, a little too late - McCain lambasted Bush and his party in this interview: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/23/mccain-lambastes-bush-years/ But you know what? Of these excesses and "mistakes" Bush's administration and his party helped propel upon the American people and the world - McCain DID vote WITH his party AND this administration 90% of the time - dearest, that makes YOU part of the VERY PROBLEM you are lambasting....glad you see the light, but, ahem, let me put this bluntly (like I EVER had a problem with it before - just scroll down, I am pretty obviously on the Liberal side of the fence, happily drinking my Socialist tea and taking my Hypocrasy to new levels as I raise my children to be bra burners - oh brother)

 

Just because you can identify the problems we have been screaming about for the last 8 years, does not mean you stand against them or would work to sufficiently change them. You voted for most of them and continue to pander to the very party you are labeling as a problem - that does not make you a maverick again.

 

 

I saw this awesome post today - http://serenitylife.vox.com/library/post/something-to-ponder---obamabiden-vs-mccainpalin.html#comments

 

It compares the education of John McCain and Barack Obama - education is not everything but certainly we can agree that the last yahoo's lack of communication or diplomacy was harmful to us - well, maybe WE cant but I certainly appreciate that we dont want people who just barely squeked by running things - that and on some moral points what if Obama's ticket had done o=soe ofg the things that McCain's ticket has - things I believe would be VERY different - but McCain and his "club" are like the popular kids in High School - they can get away with anything because, hey, they are popular. WRONG wrong so very wrong -

So - my children are helping me clean and decorate for Halloween. The best part is they are CHEAP! Bribery is little more than promising an ice cream cone....ha ha ha I am such a slave driver! Patrick helped clean the play room - and did a VERY good job, RIley picked up her mini kitchen and the BOTH ate all their Salmon dinner last night - so I said, "OK lets go get our treat!" and they looked at me with BIG eyes - "But Mommy, it is 7 o'clock - isn't it too close to bedtime?" Well, normally true, but it is Saturday lets live a little! I threw some halloween music and stories on the CD player in the car and off we went to DQ for kids cones.

 

I will tell you a trick I never thought they noticed - when I get them cones, even the kid size, I generally ask the people to make them as small as possible. But last night I let them live large - they got the WHOLE kid cone. Well, Patrick, ever observant DID notice, "Wow, and Mommy you never told them to make it smaller! Thanks for my BIG boy ice cream!" Aw....

 

So now they are turning on every one of the interactive Halloween things we are decorating with - it is loud and a little annoying, but they LOVE it. Nothing phases or scared them, but I am not putting some of the decorations out so tere will still be something new for them at our annual Halloween bash. It is smaller this year, only a pot luck for neighbors and then trick or treating - I just could not do the BIG thing again. I feel sad though, I will miss all the kids little friends from play groups we have held. Last year there were 100 people at my house! I was wiped out for a week! I could not do that again.

 

It is hard when they get older. As much as I dont want them to loose touch with their sweet little play group friends, now that school has started, it is naturally phasing out. I miss my old pals, the mommies a great deal - but the schedules are hard to keep. That is just the next phase, isn't it? You say that you wont let that happen, but it does. I just hope we continue to get together periodically because it will be nice to see how everyone does.

 

Wow, this ended up rambling a bit - that is what happens without a lot of adult contact. The kids and I are on a mini vacation decorating for Halloween today though, that is fun too! 

I have some positive news - while I think I still need more fluid in my band,
I am very happy with my progress. When last I was at my thinnest since
my PCOS started really affecting me I bought this fabulous Las Vegas
dress - 100% silk and swquined. I wore it for Halloween after working my

ASS off with a trainer for my son's first Halloween before my pregnancy with

RIley(As I am neither a pole dancer or a casino drink gal) but it was fabulous. I
kept it all these years hoping that one day I may see it again - well
today I was getting rid of all my fate clothes. Things are falling off
me anyway it was time - when I wore them they were comfy like an old
friend, but I saw myself in a mirror and I looked like a clown. So bye
bye. As I was cleaning out my closet, I found my dress. I thought "No
way, not yet" but you know what? It is TOO BIG in places and just right
in others. WOW! Guess I know what I am wearing to the school's
halloween party B/C I dont want to ruin my Super Woman outfit for the
actual big day (Can you tell Halloween and i Go WAY back??)

YAY!

I read this today: http://www.newsweek.com/id/165478/page/1 it is about the bridge to nowhere in Alaska and it is actually pretty well written about how hard that community had it and how unfair it was at times that they be the butt of a National joke and how Sarah Palin went from supportive to politically distant - I feel for the community actually - they took a lot of heat!

Did he walk the plank?? I saw this on Perez Hilton's site - and had to add it to mine! It goes so well with what I was talking about earlier - has ANYONE jumped from the LEFT to the RIGHT??? Soon they are going to have to recruit like the vampires they are.... ha ha ha.....ok mixed metaphors - they will have to recruit like Pirates, sneaking into a township and assimilating or killing everyone - wait that sounds WAY too close to reality, huh??? Here's Perez's dish -

Harvard Law Professor Charles Fried - who has been one of the most prominent conservative thinkers in the country and served as Solicitor General of the United States under Reagan - announced that he's cast his vote for Obama in an absentee ballot.

Fried also asked to be removed from several campaign-related committees on which he served and stated that his reason for voting Democrat was "the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."