Crocheting 101

Scarf season is upon us.










So much lovely yarn.










So little time.













Armed with my grandma's trusty crochet hooks, I'm off!

Halloween Time

Since several of my buddies have Halloween themed posts today, I'll jump on the band wagon and share our Halloween with you.

I mentioned a few days ago that we were planning to break tradition this year and spend Halloween at Disneyland. It seemed like a good idea. The kids didn't want to dress up, they're kind of big to go out and trick or treat, and no one was thrilled with the harvest festival idea. So AC game home from work at around 11:30am last Friday, and we headed up to the Magic Kingdom.

It was perfect; we had so much fun. We ended up staying until midnight (I'm getting too old for that!). It was a bit crowded for a while, but not too bad.

Here are a few pics that I took. Enjoy!

We started out in California Adventure. Note the sincere smiles. Ha! They were actually quite irritated at me for bringing the camera; we'd just spend the whole previous evening smiling for our annual family pictures. So when I made them stop for a picture about ten feet from the entrance, they weren't thrilled.

Have you been on the new Toy Story Mania ride? It's so much fun! Especially the sweet 3D glasses they give you!

Not bad for a self portrait.

Matthew loves the water rides. We even talked AC into going on the Rapids with us!

After a few more rides at California, we decided to get the real party started and head over to Disneyland.

When I walk through the tunnel and round the corner onto Main Street, I can literally feel the happiness. I love it.

So cute!


My three men, on a mission to get to the restaurant. Apparently, everyone was hungry.

Snow on the castle, proof that Christmas is coming.

Ah, tradition. Dinner at the Village Haus.


I love the decorations.


The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!


Fall Flowers Everywhere


I don't really like the Haunted Mansion when it's decorated with the Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. Matt wanted this picture; we were trying to catch it mid-transformation between nice snowman to spooky pumpkin man.


A tired John, trying to get comfortable while Matt and I went on Splash Mountain.

It was about 10pm.


Happy Halloween, Disneyland!

The Letter X

Okay, I almost didn't post a list today; I totally couldn't come up with ten X words. However, I thought of my friend Crayl, and I didn't want to let her down. So, a few are mine, a few I had to look up....but here you go: ten X words that I'm thankful for.

(In no particular order, except that #10 is my favorite. And no fair scrolling ahead. Wait until you get there!)

1. X-Rays. They've diagnosed broken bones for my kids, ruled out/confirmed respiratory infections, showed the cracks in my teeth....all sorts of things.

2. X-Men. Not really up there with my movie favorites, but I'll use any excuse to look at Hugh Jackman for a few hours. (Also, the way Magneto breaks out of jail in the second movie totally rocks.)

3. X Chromosomes. They're a necessity.

4. Xylose. A sugar extracted from wood or straw. Heck, sugar is sugar, right? I'd try it!

5. Xanthophyll. A yellow coloring matter found in yellow autumn leaves. Who doesn't love autumn leaves!

6. Xena: Warrior Princess. Make no mistake, I was never a fan of the show, but we did watch it and laugh at it from time to time. Kind of our own MST3K.

7. Xylophones. Especially the cute, multi-colored Fisher Price xylophones. One of the classic, must-have toys.

8. Xerox Machines. "Makin' copies."

9. Xylocaine. A topical, local anesthetic. With all of the dental work that I've had done, I'm super thankful for the topical that you get before you get the shots!!!

10. Xerxes the Great. Without him, there might not have been the battle of Thermopylae, and then there would have been no need for the movie 300 (one of my absolute favorites) and THEN I would not have been able to list one of my favorite quotes:

"The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed."


Whew! I did it! :-)

Joyous Reunions

Welcome Back, Old Friend!

Adults Only, Please

While I was sitting in Chili's last night (before I got sick), I came to a decision. I will lay it on you and then I'll explain.

I don't believe that you should sit in the bar area of a restaurant if you have children that are under, say, ten years old.

Here's the thing. AC and I have had a long few weeks, and we had an especially long day on Friday. After a baseball game on Saturday, company over for dinner, and then another game on Sunday afternoon, we were ready for some down time. We decided to go out to dinner while the kids were at Awana. We chose Chili's; it's close, they have a bar, and we knew that they would have Sunday Night Football on.

When we sat down, it was still reasonably empty; nice and relaxing. However, by the time we ordered our food, it was full...of people with little kids!!! Seriously, there were kids everywhere.

-Three tables over, a man and a woman came in with so many kids that they took up two tables.
-Two tables over there was a couple with a baby who was young enough to still be eating baby food; if the mom wasn't quick enough shoveling it in, he would fuss and make noise.
-The table next to us was a couple with two kids; the daughter kept turning around to try to entertain that baby, which just made him louder, and the son spent the the whole time complaining... "when is our food going to be here","they didn't put salt and pepper on the corn", "no dad, I don't want you to do it..."
-The table behind AC had a lady with two boys; they had their crayons and coloring stuff and were mostly quiet, but one kept hacking and sounded like he was going to bring up a lung any minute.

There was one table that had two guys and their sons, and the boys were probably eleven or twelve...they were fine. They ate, chatted, and watched the game. No problem!

Now I don't expect it to be quiet in the bar, but if I'm sitting in a bar, enjoying a drink and watching a game, I want to be greeted with fun bar noise. Loud fans, cheering, things like that. NOT the sounds of a bunch of little kids. If I wanted to be surrounded with kids and coughs and whines and giggling and tantrums and squeals, I'd sit in the restaurant.

Please, people, be more courteous to those who just want to drink a cold one and watch the game!

A Slight Change of Plans

What I had planned for this evening:

- Dinner date with the hubby
- A few errands to run, just the two of us
- Some misc. computer/desk work
- Blog (I want to climb up on my soap box for a few minutes)
- Enjoy a few peanut butter cups that my buddy sent to me
- Watch a movie after the kiddos went to bed


How my evening actually turned out:

- Felt a little strange, but went out on the dinner date anyway
- Didn't enjoy dinner nearly as much as I'd hoped
- Lost said dinner in the parking lot on the way back to the car (I'd avoid the wood chips at the 4S Ranch Chili's if I were you...)
- Spent the rest of the evening under a blanket on the couch, alternately clutching and using the barf bucket


Tonight's two redeeming factors:
- The Colts won.
- Andy, in a massive point-winning gesture, turned on the Sounds of the Season station so that I can listen to Christmas music as I rest on the couch.


Well, enough of this sitting vertical silliness. I need to go grab said bucket and resume the position. I'll try again tomorrow.

I'm In

Today, against my better judgement, I find myself jumping on the NaBloPoMo band wagon. It's where I (or shall I say "we", you can do this too...) post a blog each day during the month of November.

I did this two years ago (when I was blogging on MySpace) and it was actually quite therapeutic; along with normal, funny, everyday life topics, I was able to journal my thoughts as we struggled through the last days of my grandma's life.

While a part of me is looking forward to this, I must admit that there is a part of me that thinks I'm absolutely crazy. What in the world am I going to write about for 30 days? I honestly don't think I lead that interesting of a life. In fact, maybe I should give out an award at the end for anyone crazy enough to stick with me for a month!

Anyhow, good or bad, I'm in. On Tuesdays, you'll get my lists, on Fridays, you'll get my flashbacks, and in between...who knows? Will I be the best writer on the block? Certainly not. Will I have the funniest stories? No. Will I astound you with amazing ponderables? Doubt it. But I'll share a little piece of me with you every day. Sound like a plan?

Now, I need to get back to my movie. (AC was kind enough to pause it so that I could get this post in by midnight! What a guy!!!) We're in the middle of Live Free or Die Hard. They just got to West Virginia, they're heading up to the fourth floor. They know that the bad guys are there, but heck, we all know that due to Bad Guy Shooting School, McClane and (probably) Farrell will do just fine. I'm reasonably certain that McClane will take a bullet before the end, though.

Anyhow, I guess I'll be chatting with you tomorrow. G'night!