Last Night

Not as in yesterday, Tuesday, but as in HURRAY this is the last night of NaBloPoMo!

This is the 4th year that I've participated but the first that I've hated almost every minute. It was not a writing exercise this year but a chore. Believe me, you won't hear from me again for a few days. I've had no inspiration, no motivation. I'm sorry that you've had to read my drivel for the last 4 weeks. OK, who am I kidding. You didn't HAVE to do anything. So, most importantly Thank You for sticking around for my drivel. You are pretty.

One of the reasons that I've had such a hard time with it this year is that my laptop is the only computer in the house. In the evenings since football has been over the boys have taken to taking over. They watch YouTube videos all.damn.night. Video game commentaries mostly. (Don't get me started on the fact that we're on our 3rd XBOX and it now DOESN'T WORK. #microsoftcansuckit )So. By the time that I get my computer back so I can actually write it's after 9pm, sometimes later than that, and it's hard to pound out a post when your shows are on and you're trying to write something inspired. (I know.)

Another reason is that I'm having a hard time with blogging in general lately. The boys are getting older and many of their stories aren't mine to tell anymore. I know that's totally a cliche now, and I hope to find my way around it, but I can't help but to at least be more sensitive to them now. I'm also finding that there seems to be people that have a problem with 'normal kids.' Let me explain. There are brilliant bloggers out there that have beautiful and eloquent things to say about their kids that have challenges. (Think spectrum/health issues, and the like.) My kids are great and smart, and yes sometimes challenging, but all in very normal ways. Not big stories here.

I'll also add (to the problems with blogging in general) that I'm having a hard time knowing where I fit in these days. Is blogging a dying art? I feel like the blogging that I knew when I started is dying, and the blogging that people refer to now is totally different. With the exception of my close friends, I don't see much community anymore. Well, it's shrinking anyway. Which makes me incredibly sad because this community has propped me up, given me purpose, and made me laugh more than any other in my adult life. I don't want to lose this but I'm not sure that I want it in the form that is emerging, either.

No answers, just more questions. But still, thank goodness NaBloPoMo is over.

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Dufus

(UPDATED WITH LIVE LINK)

I just spent time writing a post for Draft Day Suit about all of the football firings this week. Of course it's not posted yet so I can't actually link to it right now. However. I promise that I will insert the link in here tomorrow when it's live.

Teaser:

1 day ago

1 day ago

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T-Minus 2 Days

There are only 2 days left in NaBloPoMo. Thank goodness.

A few bullet points to get past this Monday night: 

• My #1 turned 11 today!
• He has damn good taste in birthday dinners. Filets, baked potatoes and broccoli.
• Tebow and my Broncos. 5-1 in their last 6 games. 'Nuf said.
• I still haven't decorated the Christmas trees. Hopefully by this weekend.
• I have to find a dress- PRONTO- for my husband's company Christmas party. Ideas and links would be greatly appreciated!
• I also need to shed about 10 pounds before I'll be comfortable in a new dress.

Ok, that about does it for tonight. Bye!
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Go To Meals: Chicken/Turkey Soup

Often during the summer we will throw a whole chicken on the rotisserie on our barbeque. The flavor is great and the kids love it. We're not real big on leftovers so saving all of the extra meat and the entire carcass is perfect, especially because I know that come fall I get to have this!

To freeze: stuff all of the carcass, including any bones that you've eaten off of, any uneaten pieces of meat and skin pieces, into a gallon freezer bag. Put in the freezer.

Note: Please also use your turkey carcass from Thanksgiving. It's delish, and a great way to extend the life of your bird, so to speak!

Chicken Soup:
One chicken carcass, taken from the freezer. Put in large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour (Or less, or more. Whatever.) Remove from heat, use a slotted spoon to remove all meat and bones from broth. Let bones cool until you can handle them. Pick all meat from bones and return to pot with broth, discard bones.

While bones are simmering gather veggies to put into the soup. I typically use: onion, celery, and carrots. That is a basic soup. This time I used a can of rotel, an extra can of green chiles, and frozen peas and corn. You can add just about anything, really, in any combination. I also tend to use a simple can of diced tomatoes instead of the Rotel. Like I said, just use what you have on hand.

Add veggies to broth with meat. Simmer. Add other seasonings to taste. (When we cook a chicken on the rotisserie we dry rub it so I always wait to season until after the veggies are in. You never know how the flavor will go.) You can add: bay leaf, sea salt, pepper, basil, thyme, oregano, lemon pepper. Start with a little, let it simmer, then taste and add more if you need to.

Finally, about 15-20 minutes before you're ready to serve add either a cup of rice, or like I did this time, add egg noodles. (A little or a lot, whichever you prefer. This picture was taken before I added the broth from the pot so it looks a lot thicker than it actually was.)

This can take as little time as an hour or all afternoon and smells divine. My recipe feeds 4-6. If you need to feed more you can simply add a small chicken breast to the simmering carcass.

Enjoy!

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Saturday Shots-Decorating Edition

The family room complete with tree, stockings, Little People Nativity, and Black Ops. You know, because it's such a great family activity.

 Not complete, but my Santas on the left,  my Willow Tree Nativity in the middle, and my snowmen on the right. And a random easel, just for giggles.

 More snowmen on the left of the staircase, another Santa at the top, and my penguins down the right.

 Tree placement in living room. Complete with ornament boxes just to keep it real.

So that's as far as I've gotten. Looking at the pictures I see a ton of fixes. *Sigh* It's never done, is it?

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Decorating

Last year we had a crappy Christmas. Well, it just didn't much feel like any sort of holiday since our house was torn up after our flood and I couldn't decorate. Do you remember the sad little tree that I put up in our family room?

Well, you'll be happy to know that I decorated today. All of the stockings are hung by the chimney with care. The sad little tree is up in the family room and it isn't quite so sad this year. The only thing that isn't done yet are actual ornaments on the trees. Tomorrow and Sunday. Not kidding.

I had fun decorating this year. I did some things differently than I usually do which makes it fun for me. I actually cleaned off an entire table in my front hall and have a nativity on it with 2 other of my 'Christmas collections'. I think I'll take pictures tomorrow so you can see some of what I've done. And yes, Liz, I'll show you where I put the tree!

Confession: I still haven't found homes for a few of the boxes that you saw in the last picture of my progress. Honest to pete I cannot seem to get rid of them. They are full of random stuff. Old pictures, a map of London from our trip there in 1999, some old business files.  Certainly if I would just go through them I could at least combine them into one, right? Anyhow, that's what I'm up against.

Viva Saturday!
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Thanksgiving by the Numbers

2- number of turkeys cooked, one fried and one rotisserie
2- number of cranberry dishes, (regular and relish with orange)
2- glasses of wine consumed by moi
7- side dishes: (stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, squash casserole, sweet potatoes, creamed corn, rudabagas)
5- children under the age of 15
1- grandparent
2- children that are technically adults
14- total people here to eat
3- bowls of chips
3- complete football games (mostly) watched
1- successful attempt at gravy!

0- pictures taken by me. *sigh*

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110

That was the number of people, at last count, that we helped to feed at my daughter's church tonight.

HD deep fried 6 turkeys and other church volunteers filled in with the side dishes. I was the food runner and helped with clean up.

I didn't get to my own prep for tomorrow but that's ok. 110 people left with not only fill bellies, but full hearts, and they felt the love of Jesus. Not only that? but there is enough left over to make plates to take out tomorrow to the parks! God is good. Very good.

And I am pooped. Happy Thanksgiving!
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NaBloPoMo Can #SuckIt

I've been phoning it in for a while now. You didn't notice? You're so kind.

Ahem.

Anyway, this is kinda kicking my butt. I know.

Did I mention that it was our anniversary today? Yup. 14 years and HD is a keeper. He got me a ring that is beeyooooo-tiful. I'll get a picture for you when I get it sized. I love it!

If you'd like to see a picture of our wedding you can look at the post that I wrote for our eleventh anniversary. It was a really beautiful ceremony.

I'm off to snuggle with my honey. Nighty night!

Hey, just curious... How many years have you been married?

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Knott's

Took the kids to Knott's today with some of our pals. Had a great day. Totally exhausted. There at 11, home at 9:00.

Oh, and I wrote this at Draft Day Suit. So sad.

See ya tomorrow!
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60 Word Sunday

The Christmas tree is up! However, no pictures yet because there is no skirt. Or decorations. I still have to find the steamer trunk a new home for the holidays. Hopefully it will all be done by next Sunday because I'll have to go into birthday mode again. Still no firm Thanksgiving plans. Lame. And lonely.

See you tomorrow, Gang!
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Progress #3

Here's the living room, complete save the pile of crap right there in front. Already being moved as we speak. Looks pretty good, eh? Also, I got a couple of stains out of the carpet. I don't know if you'd be able to tell from previous pictures. I'm motivated because I'm planning on putting up the Christmas tree ASAP. Maybe tomorrow if I can finish up.

Also completed:

• bills paid
• current laundry done
• boys thank you notes and chores
• some of the paper has been dealt with
• shelves on the bookshelf reorganized

I've just been informed that we're going out to dinner tonight. Just HD and I. Hmmm. Wonder if he remembers that our anniversary is in 3 days? (Don't tell him, HG. Seriously.)(He never remembers on his own.)(I'm not kidding HG. Don't tell him.)

So I guess I'm off to see what I can wear that I won't freeze my butt off. California decided to embrace winter with a vengeance this month. See ya tomorrow!

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Not Tonight

I am tired. It's already late.

Someone in my family needs my attention.

The boys need to be herded into bed, yet they're watching 20/20 or something like that. About polygamy. Niiiiice. Oh, and eggs. *shudder*

My goals for this weekend:

• Post the 'after' picture of my living room before I screw it up again decorating for Christmas. 
• Finish laundry. (HA! It's never really done.) 
• Make sure the boys finish thank you notes and chores. 
• Pay bills. 
• Make a decision about Thanksgiving. (No, we still don't have plans. Maybe we'll just kiss and go to bed?)
• Go through a couple of piles of papers and deal with what's there or throw it away.
• Make some shopping lists: grocery, Costco, and Christmas. 

So there you go. A non-post-y-post. And I get to go to bed. ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......
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It's Over

We had a great season. It was really, really fun, and really heart breaking. It was a great season.

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Gatorade Moms: Video

Do you remember when I told you about filming some video footage for Gatorade? We filmed at the BlogHer conference in San Diego. It was very cool. Well, I got word that it was ready and, TA DA! I get to share it with you today!

Gatorade Moms Video

I'm honored to be a part of the BECOME campaign. As moms, that's what we all want to do, right? to help our kids become the best they can be and to follow their passion. Please go take the BECOME pledge. For every pledge (just a couple of clicks), Gatorade will donate $10 to the Women's Sports Foundation. Yes, TEN DOLLARS. That's worth a few clicks, no?

Thanks again to Gatorade, the Zeno Group, and my fellow Gatorade Moms. It's been wonderful working with all of you and I'm so proud of the work that we've done!

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Tough Day

So I was up before 6 this morning. If you know me, this is WAY out of the ordinary. Usually I snooze until the very last minute. Anyway, story for another day.

Today has been a long day, so you are going to have to go elsewhere to see what I've been writing.



First up, I have a guest post up at Diets in Review about altering your family's favorite recipes for the upcoming holidays.

Next, I've been talking about the smells of Thanksgiving and what's going to be on your table next week over at Inland Empire Family.

Finally, have you liked me on Facebook? I'd love it if you would. Shameless, I know.

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Orange

Orange. Not the fruit, the color. (While the fruit is fine, they are kind of a PITA to peel. I know. Whaah.)



It's always been one of my favorites. It's sunny, and bright and happy. I started wearing orange when I was a teen. I think my dad bought me my first orange sweater and I was hooked. I wear it well.

I went to the University of Tennessee. Probably so I could wear orange and not be laughed at. Or something like that. Football had nothing to do with it. Maybe.

I am a Denver Broncos fan. Orange Crush. (Although they could use a little more crush lately. That's ok. I'm no fair weather fan. I'm all in, baby.)

I do not fear the orange. I fear that it is underrated.

My husband has a great winter shirt that's orange. My daughter loves it too. Or used to, anyway. You know kids these days. *throws up hands* The boys haven't embraced the orange quite yet, although HB#2 does like the Broncos. There may be hope for him, yet. #1 though? I'm not quite sure.  His current favorites are purple and turquoise. I'll let it go. For now.

So. Orange. How do you feel about it?

*****

Don't like this post? Blame her.

*****

PS-If you haven't yet, go wish Carmen a Happy Birthday. Yes, now.
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Most Epic Birthday

We finally had a good party for HB#2. (If you don't remember why this is important read this. This poor kid's parties have sucked in the past.) Totally hit the jackpot with this one.

So, I found a video game truck to come to the house for 2 hours on Saturday night. The kids came a little early and we fed them before the 'Main Event'. This truck was EPIC. 2 large screens on the outside of the truck, (as seen above, complete with one of the dads getting in on the Just Dance action,) and 4 screens inside. Each screen was outfitted with an XBOX and a Wii, so everyone could play exactly what they wanted to play.



You guys, it was totally worth is to see all of these kids so happy.

Oh, but just so you know, 2 of the kids that RSVP'd to the last one and didn't show?, did the same last night. Not even kidding.

*****

Like the last party, this was also a football playoff weekend. I'm sorry to say that our Saints lost yesterday. It was a great battle, and a heartbreaker. They were playing the team that they had their only regular season loss to... again, by one point. All in all it was a terrific season and I'm really proud of our boys.

But it's still sad to lose in the semi-finals.

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Ten Things to do with Lottery Winnings

 

I could probably come up with dozens of things that I/we would do with a big lottery jackpot, but here are the first 10 things that come to mind:

1-tithe
2-put in a pool
3-pay off bills
4-help pay off some relative's bills
5-put money away for the boy's college
6-fix the house
7-take a vacation
8-put money away for med school for HG
9-put the kids in private school
10-hire someone to help me finish decorating my house

What would you do?
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Right Now

Ado said that I should write about where I'm blogging from right now. Ok. Done.

I am sitting on the far left side of our hunter green corduroy couch. My feet are on the ottoman, of the same color and fabric, which is shared by the feet of my HB#1 and HD. Most of the lights in the house are off. The television is on and we are watching Transformers 3. I am writing on my 3 1/2 year old MacBook laptop which is in desperate need of a tune up. I still need to finish the dishes. Mostly pots and pans from our dinner of ham steak, peas and homemade macaroni and cheese.

I think I'll go do that now.
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Photog #2

See? I think I take some pretty good shots.
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Cats

When I was around 8 years old I went to my first girl scout camp. Day camp, perhaps? I can't remember for sure, but I do remember whining to my mom about bringing home a cat, (kitten? the details are a little fuzzy.) She caved.

It was a calico cat, all different colors, and so sweet. We named her Danny. She slept on the foot of my bed and kept my feet warm, but everyone in my family loved that cat.

I think that I brought home another cat from another day camp... a long haired tabby? Or was she gray? White? She was the psycho one.

A couple of years later when we moved from California to Colorado those damn cats almost became permanent residents of the Arizona desert. We had them in small cases to travel but let them out into our motel room when we stopped for the night. The psycho one whined all night. You know, that awful, *wraarrrr* *wrarrrrr* that cats that are in distress have? Yeah, all.night.long. I'm really surprised that my parents didn't let it out and tell us "OOPS!" the next morning.

Anyway, those were my first 2 cats. We ended up with another dog when I was in high school, but never another cat. Danny was the best. Ever.

When I married Headless Dad he had 2 cats and a dog. Monkey was a tabby tom cat, and Torchy was a black/grey cat. Monkey was named by Headless Girl who tried to call the cat "My Kitty" as a toddler, and Monkey is what stuck. They were mostly good cats, except for the part where Monkey tried to sleep on my head. After one that slept on my feet, the head just wasn't cutting it. Monkey also would make us 'pay' for going out of town. You never knew what you'd find when you came home. I'll just leave it at that. Ahem.

Both cats were old when we got married and ended up dying in the first 4-5 years or so of our marriage.

About nine years ago we moved into the house that we're currently in and we still don't have any more cats. First, both of the boys are very allergic, and since one is also asthmatic there really doesn't need to be another reason. Second, HD believes that cats should be indoor/outdoor animals and the area that we live in is about 1/4 mile from National Forest area and we have critters. Coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions. And coyotes think cats are tasty. So, no cats.

And no, I'm not sorry. Yes, I remember loving having a cat as a kid. However, as an adult, and the only adult in the house that cleans said house, No. Just no. I've gotten used to not having cat hair on every bloody surface in the house and on every outfit I wear. I love seeing pictures of them and actually think your cats are cute, but no. I just don't think I can go back there.

So, there you are. Cats!
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NaBloPoMo Topics

A couple of days ago I put it out on Twitter that I needed some topics for NaBloPoMo because I was out of ideas. (Yes, I know it's only day 9. Shut up.) Thankfully a couple of you responded so I was able to get a post up that night. I'll keep using them but I thought I'd share the bounty.

@Stimey's Topics: Cats. Your favorite TV show. Five things about you. The color orange. Silly kids. Writers block. Stimey blogs at Stimeyland.

@AdoTheMamalog's Topics:  Your first pet death. Where you are writing from now. Your thoughts on Pluto. How you feel about Dippin' Dots going bankrupt. Ado blogs at Mamalog.

*****

Doing the single-parent thing for a couple of days, so I'm beat. See ya tomorrow!
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Aspen

Headless Dad called me this afternoon with news that one of his oldest and dearest friends was in town, and "HEY! I asked him over for dinner!" Which is fine, and I love Brian, but it totally threw my afternoon into a direction that I didn't anticipate.

(Side note: He's the guy that supplies the wreath in this post every year. Love that!)

Anyway, since I got totally side tracked you get Aspen trees instead of a real post. Taken this summer at my parent's house. See ya tomorrow!

I'm thinking that if I actually knew how to use a photo editing program, this could be an awesome shot.
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5 Things

Earlier tonight when I put out on Twitter what I should write about Stimey told me that I should tell you 5 things about me. I'm nothing if not a lemming.

1- I'm not very 'regular', especially when I travel. (You're welcome.)
2- I'm firmly in perimenopause.
3- I scrubbed my shower today for the first time in I-can't-remember-how-long.
4- I'm highly suspect of people that are big into the Occupy movement.
5- I think that education is (partially) wasted on the young.

OK. There's your post for today. I actually might use the rest of Stimey's suggestions later in the week. She's such a giver.
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I Almost Forgot

Wow. NaBloPoMo is kicking my butt and we're not even a week in yet.

Football: #2's Saints won their first playoff game today, 26-0!

I took a 3 hour nap after the game due to our 5 am wake up call. Have you ever been on a football field before the sun even came up? Not exactly on my bucket list, but it's done anyway.

I did, however, get 3 loads of laundry done, and floors in 2 rooms plus a hallway.

HD cooked a yummy dinner and I still have to finish the dishes.

Winter finally arrived in SoCal. Rain yesterday and tomorrow, freezing today. Good thing I bought myself some cute green duck shoes last weekend. 30 bucks, suckers. My feet will be dry all winter!

This is going to have to do it for today. Manana mi amigos.
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Seen

As I was driving home from a few errands today I saw a large SUV with a woman driving.

How she was actually driving, I have NO CLUE, as there was a very large white parrot-like bird sitting on top of her steering wheel.

Seriously, on the steering wheel, right in her line of vision.

Unbelievable.
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Under the Wire

Today:

• alarm went off at 6
• slept through it until 6:25
• kids up at 6:30
• kids to school
• shower
• drive Headless Girl to LAX
• home
• lunch
• school to help with 4th grade
• kids home
• homework and chores while
• I went to the grocery store
• home
• cook
• drop off invitation to a party
• football practice
• home
• eat dinner
• dishes
• try for 30 minutes to get the kids to get ready for bed
• start yelling
• finally turn off lights
• answer 2 calls from the picky one about lights and music
• go upstairs to turn off said music when picky one is 10 feet from said stereo

Put a fork in me; I'm done.
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The Horror of Halloween-Part 1

Back when I was a child, I loved Halloween. We lived in a safe neighborhood, with sidewalks and cul-de-sacs, there were lots of kids out, and we knew most everyone on the block. My best friend lived next door and we ALWAYS trick-or-treated together. She was one of 5 kids so we had a big group, too. I'm guessing that for our parents it was way more fun to do it together. I don't remember when we were allowed to go alone, maybe around 9?, but I do remember using pillow cases one year because we got to go all the way around the block and into each cul-de-sac. I have still never seen so much candy!

The year that I turned 11 was the year that all of that changed. That year, 1979, we moved from that accessible Southern California neighborhood to the mountains of Colorado. Trick or treating in a spread out mountain community isn't quite the same, not to mention that we were in 6th grade. OF COURSE there were parties, (easier for the parents, and we were WAY TOO MATURE to go begging for candy,) and since I was the new kid I wasn't invited to any of them. Thus started my aversion to Halloween. Totally tied to preteen angst.

I should also add that I am in no way, shape, or form creative, so trying to come up with a costume is an exercise in futility for me. Yes, I've scoured the internet, the catalogs, and the advertisements, but I can never come up with something that seemed to 'work' for me. Naughty Nurse? Uh, no thanks. So dressing up is out. Going to parties is also out since I'd rather stay home and pass out candy to the cute little ones that come by. Plus, going to a costume party just to drink too much and ruin whatever costume I did come up with just seems ridiculous.

Finally, I hate to be scared. So there's that.

So that's the background on the reason that I hate Halloween. Next up is the reason that it was a huge MOMMY FAIL this year. Whatever you're Halloween fail is, it will only pale in comparison to mine. You're welcome.
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Trying-SOC for NaBloPoMo

I'm trying to get 'into' blogging again. I just haven't been inspired lately despite bloggable material. Sometimes participating in NaBloPoMo helps. It certainly forces me to just sit down and write, that's for sure. Anyway, if you're interested, BlogHer is hosting it now. Anyone, even men!, can sign up using this form. Let me know if you're going to try it!

The living room is just about done. I'll post a pic later this week. Such a difference!

Mommy guilt is heavy, y'all. Did you know that I hate Halloween? With a passion. I will, however, tell you the story of this year because I totally bit it on this one, yet, it somehow turned out ok. Still with the guilt, though.

Despite doing NaBloPoMo I am going to try to stay off of the computer this month. Less Facebook, less other crap. I've honestly NOT been entertained by it all recently, and isn't that why we started all of this in the first place? Maybe I'll get reacquainted with my oven, vacuum, dust rag, iron.....

We got to go to Mammoth this weekend with friends and had a blast. No, we really had a BLAST. All 6 kids got along great, the adults got to have some adult time, including wine and conversation!, the scenery was beautiful. Made me long for the mountains, but all in all it was a fabulous trip. Uh, I totally forgot to take out the camera, so no, there are no pictures. Sorry.

Hey, do me a favor? Let me know in the comments what you want to hear about this month. Ask me a question. Pinky swear I'll get to all of them before the month is up!
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