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There is a first year teacher/first time mommy next door to me at school. Today after our 8th graders were BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS from candy contraband contamination snuck into school under the cover of backpacks she said, “I don’t even want to imagine what it’s like to have Halloween on a day other than Friday.” To which I replied, “Don’t. Just. Don’t. It’s too horrid to describe.” Teachers dream of years with Halloween on a Friday. Today, our dreams have come true.
My fellow Americans and action adventure buffs, I give you Sarah Palin (’cause they were all out of Wonder Woman, so we used what we had) and Indiana Jones.
And this is what you do when you (meaning The Daddy) don’t have time to carve the pumpkin this year.
Originally posted October, 2006
To engender more autumnal holiday cheer (and ’cause I liked ‘em), I bought these
Aren’t they cute. . .all nesting and the like. So, I get them out to let the kids play with them today. . .then we have 2 soccer games, etc. They are both loving soccer, but watching his sister’s team play is not Thad’s favorite way to spend an hour. . .lots of whining about going to the playground ensues. So, today I came prepared with these mini Transformers
’cause it was worth the $3.59 to give him something to do. He enjoyed the Transformers AND the soccer game today. Therefore, I enjoyed the soccer game too.
Now he is in the floor with the Transformers and the holiday decorations singing a song–words and tune of his own creation–that goes something like. . .
“Transformers in the Pilgrim house.
Transformers in the Pilgrim house.
Gonna blow the roof off and safe the Pilgrims.
Gonna blow the roof off (*BOOM*) and save the Pilgrims. . .
In. . . the. . .house. . .”
He continued, but I can’t relate the rest. Then he began begging anyone who walked through the room to play Transformers. . .where the other person always gets to be the bad guy. Thad likes to save the Pilgrims, I suppose, while someone else destroys them.
The Transformers will receive double duty in church tomorrow. . .and hopefully in addition to destroying the roofs of Pilgrim dwellings then SAVING the distraught Pilgrims, they will also be able to keep my five year old on the pew. I guess I could do the cost analysis to see if it has truly been worth the $3.59, but I’m sayin’ it is/was/will be.
It most definitely WAS worth the $3.59. Just sayin’. . .
Let’s find out. . .
Uh one. . .
Uh two-hooooooo. . .
Uh three. . .
***(cruuuunch)***
Uh three. . .
Just how many ways CAN a person photograph one house? The blog readers may never know.
At least MOST of a roof. . .
and some bricks. . .
. . .and some kids too!!!!
Actually there’s not much in this world that I DO hate. Misquitos. . .warm soft drinks. . .people traveling 70+ MPH who don’t use their blinkers. . .yet at the tippy top of my list of things I really, truly detest would be bra shopping. That’s right. I cannot STAND shopping for bras. In fact, I have put it off for so long the underwire in my bras has become decrepit to the point that it squeaks. Now, I cannot imagine a sound that one would WANT one’s breasts to make. . .however, if one had to choose, I’m pretty sure that squeaking would NOT be at the top of one’s list. Inspired by the chorus that accompanied me each day (and my insane loathing of bra shopping), I began eyeing Tony’s can of WD-40 as a possible solution.
Eventually common sense won out–not to mention the fact that I doubt Oxyclean could handle the mess left from a shot of WD-40 to undergarments, so tonight I sallied forth–squeaking all the way–with the best attitude I could muster. I was also humming as I shopped because depending on the store. . .the number size. . .the cup formation. . .the fabric. . .the brand. . .I run the gammet from cup size to cup size. “A, B, C, D, E, F, quadruple F. . .” This makes the shopping (squeak, squeak) quadruple frustrating.
A very helpful young woman named Tamara was trying to give me good customer service as I had explained my severe hatred for bra shopping as well as the music that my lack of bra shopping had brought me, but she was a bit on the young side and kept showing up with turquoise and bright purple choices. After thanking Tamara for her help, then going to a different store where I could choose from nude/black/white in peace, I eventually came home with three new bras. I cannot say that I am thrilled with them, but they will do.
And all is quiet.
For now.
Sing with me!!!!
My brain cells seem to be escaping in my sleep–the little I get. I find if I get 8 hours, I feel pretty alive, the problem being that 8 hours is hard to come by. I used to think I didn’t need much sleep, when the fact of the matter was that in college and before kids, I could nap. Now–no good nap goes unpunished. And sometimes, there’s just no nap.
That being said, I remember I used to have some insightful posts here–some humorous ones–and just now sitting here trying to compose something that does not solely consist of photographs of my new home OR my children, I remembered that I needed to call two parents tonight. . .and I had their children’s phone record pages, and they are not here. They are not in the car. They are not in my bag or my purse. Which means they are either in the computer lab OR the library at school–both places I stopped on my way to the car. Both very PUBLIC places. Both places where you do not want to leave children’s parent’s phone numbers.
Brain??????????????? BUH-RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNN???? Where are you??????
My guess would be in the library or the computer lab.
Right now we are reading Flowers for Algernon in 8th grade language arts. The kids are very involved in the saga of Charlie Gordon. I made yet ANOTHER mistake, that I totally thought was true. I told them that the version in our literature book was an excerpt from the novel by the same name. That turned out–I discovered this afternoon–to be an untrue statement. The short story that we are reading in our literature book came first. . .then the novel was fleshed out. I know this because I went to the library and got a copy of the novel on the way home. ALL of the copies have been checked out because 500 8th graders are all reading it and all want to read more. I read the book long, long ago in high school. I had forgotten LARGE portions of the book. I quickly read it again tonight. It is not a book that should be read by 8th graders.
I would recommend the short story to you as it was really the first of its kind in its day. My kids keep asking me if it’s a true story. I told them that it was realistic fiction–made up but could really happen. It is actually listed as science fiction. We will have a good discussion tomorrow about my own mistake as the short story was written in ‘58 or ‘59, so what now seems like realistic fiction to US was, in fact, SCIENCE fiction in the late ’50’s.
Amazing.
Anyway. If you’ve not read EITHER version of Flowers for Algernon, just click the bold blue title in this sentence and it will direct you to the short story. It is not happy, but it is very, very good. I will tell my kids tomorrow, and I will tell you tonight–the short story is the image of Charlie you want to keep in your head. Let the novel and all of its angst stay on the shelf. . .read the original.
As far as the phone papers go, I really pulled Charlie Gordon. (Go read the short story.)
I have never eaten an apple dumpling. . .until now. And if you are an apple dumpling purist from either Washington or Michigan or elsewhere that apples grow in abundance, my apologies if this offends.
My mom gave me a GREAT recipe. It doesn’t seem like it would work, but boy-oh-boy does it EVER work.
Quick and Easy Apple Dumplings
1 can crescent rolls
2-4 baking apples (depending on how much apple you want to put in them–I use Granny Smith)
3/4 stick of butter
3/4 C. orange juice (like out of a bottle/carton–juice–not concentrate)
1/4 C. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Add the orange juice, sugar, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower to simmer. Meanwhile take 8 peeled apple quarters (or halves if you like more apple–but cut them into two quarters so they will get tender all the way through), and wrap each quarter (half) in a crescent roll. Squish the roll around the apple so that it’s covered. Place roll covered apples in an 8×8 baking pan, sprinkle with cinnamon, pour butter/juice mixture over rolls, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until rolls are golden brown on top.
Delish either with or without vanilla icecream. You can eat ‘em hot. . .but the “juice” will thicken up some after they cool off a bit. Store the leftovers–if there are any–in the fridge.
These are REALLY good.
When we ran out to the property this afternoon (after nearly an entire week of rain) we certainly did not expect to see this. (Click on photos to make larger–sorry Stephanie, didn’t know how to get the two little dots over the o’s.)
Hardie plank on our house!!!!!!! We had been expecting just some wood sheathing. The house will be painted what Tony calls “white.” He does the little finger quotes along with an eye roll–and sometimes a “harumph.” That’s because there was really NO pure white from which to choose, and they were HARD AND FAST on the colors they would put on the exterior. We got the whitest white they had, but Tony says when we have to paint the house we are going to look until we find a white exterior paint called “God’s Glory.” That is the kind of white he’s looking for. . .he wants you to need to wear a veil to look at our house.
Front porch. . .
Back porch. . .
Through the trees. . .
I loved this picture because you can look through the front door and see out the back door.
This is Victoria’s “fairy window.” They had a LARGE window on the side of her room–which was beautiful–but took up a LOT of space. Tony and I saw this small window in another home–presented it to Victoria as a “fairy window”, and she was sold.
Our family on the front porch. Note the loveliness of my house hair/messy bun.
This is what you get when you take a 3 1/2 hour nap on the couch and your children are left alone to entertain themselves. Hey–it kept them quiet enough for me to sleep in the same room. Normally Thad is VERY particular about his Lego People, but he and Victoria had a ball mixing up the Indiana Jones, Mars Mission, Batman, and Agents Lego People to create a new set that they named “The Swapians.” Creative, no?
Top Row, Left to Right:
Headless Bob, Captain Underpants, Jr., The Lone Stranger, Mr. Spy, Mrs. Bossy Pants, Muscle Man
Middle Row: Ahem, Ty, Ariel, Indiana Smith, Black-Eyed Pea, The Person With No Name, Skelato
Bottom Row: Shoeless Joe, Ordinary
If you look closely, you can see that Marion Underwood (from Indiana Jones) has REALLY been spread thin. Her blouse is being worn by Muscle Man, her hair is being worn atop Henry Jones’s (Indiana’s Dad) head by Ahem, and only her face is gender correct on Ariel. I think, were she able to speak, she might have a thing or two to say about that.
We now have the bones of a roof. Tony’s parents drove out with Victoria and me yesterday evening, and Tony and Thad met us there coming home from their campout. We arrived about 5:00, and the framers were working like bees. We left at 7:30 when it got dark, and they were just beginning to pack up. They are either REALLY devoted to their craft, or are REALLY ready to be done. Either way, things look great.
Front of the house
We have three decorative dormers. . .there will be lots of light in the attic.
The craft room is in the front of the house.
Back of the house
Back porch
Victoria sitting on the kitchen counter sawhorse. My mother’s kitchen counter had a sway in it from all of the kids and grandkids (particularly my nephew and me) sitting on it for years.
When the nail gun gets low, the workmen just toss the last of the nails and refill. Thad was trying to help them out by putting all of the tossed nails on the future kitchen bar top. I have a feeling this is not the last time Thad’s “treasures” will end up there.
Stephanie sent us a wonderful package, and in it were these head lamps for the kids. They LOVED them and wore them even before it got dark.
