Trick or Treat

Can you help me decide what to dress Abby up as for Halloween?

She could be.....

A "Gangsta" girl

Or, she could be....

A wall from my kitchen!

Nope, I think I will dress her as....



A kitty!

Thanks Gramma and Grampa!

Footloose and Fancy Free

This is a very difficult post for me to write.

I have a horrible confession to make.

I cheated.

And now I am involved in a secret love affair!

It all started out innocently enough, but doesn't it always?  I told myself this would never happen and I really couldn't have predicted it.

Brian's niece was down for the weekend and I decided that instead of sitting around Saturday night with nothing on TV and Brian watching hockey, we would go to the movies.  I mean, I haven't been to one in probably about 5 years and how much trouble can a married woman and a young teen get into?

We were about 20 minutes early for the movie, the theatre was already packed, so we ended up sitting 3rd row from the front where only late comers and losers sit!  We were just getting comfy when a single man asked if the seats beside us were taken.  They weren't,  so we let him slip by.

I had to give this guy a good look, just to make sure some creepy serial killer wasn't settling in next to us.  Suddenly, the lights dimmed and the movie started.  It only took about 5 minutes into the movie for the infatuation to set in and I was hooked!
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ON THE NEW FOOTLOOSE!!!!

Gotcha!

However, I do still consider it cheating!

I told myself I would not see it...I mean, how can you top the original with the hunky Kevin Bacon?  But still, the previews drew me in a bit.  With Brian's niece down, I thought it would be the perfect excuse to check it out.   

***SPOILER ALERT***
I will be talking about the movie, but really, if you saw the original...it's not much of a spoiler!

Let me tell ya, the movie was GREAT!  They made it modern, but still kept all the scenes and lines that you loved in the original, but with a spin on it to make it just a little bit different.

The opening sequence still had all the dancing feet in funky shoes, Ariel still got caught dancing in the parking lot by her father, Ren drove a bug and liked his music too loud.  Willard did not have one single dance step and the end of year dance was still held in Basin.  The songs were still all there, but were re-recorded.

And when I saw the actor that plays Ren, well....it really was a love affair, but I was pretty sure the lustful thoughts I was having would put me jail for just thinking about a minor that way! (turns out the actor is 26, so it's all good!)  And his teeth???  PERFECT!!

Kenny Wormald



I would pay to go and see this movie again...that is how much I loved it.  Truthfully, I may have liked it just a little bit more than the original, which is saying a lot!
I hope when Paramount releases it, they consider releasing it as a combo pack with the original.  I would watch them both.
But if it's out on video by Christmas...I hope Santa puts it in my stocking!

Like A Page Out Of A Story

As a kid, did anyone else ever read this book?

I clearly remember reading it and LOVING it!  I was delighted when I had kids that you can still get this book and quickly snapped it up.  I have read it to my kids and they enjoy it as well.

For those of you not familiar with this story, it goes a little like this:

"Here, Bert, put this pot on your head!" "Why! " "Because I broke the eggs." "What does that have to do with ...?" and Ernie commences explaining how one thing led him to the next and the next and... eventually Bert needs the pot on his head because his cowboy hat is being used elsewhere. Engaging, humorous read and/or a fun mental workout. Kids will think about chains of events and laugh at Ernie's wacky choices.  ( Thanks Amazon.com for the snippet)

What happened last night sort of reminds me of this story.

A little background:

From the day he was born, Hayden was just about the best little sleeper around and to this day, would still nap for a couple hours at a time if he was allowed!

However, within the past few month, he has turned into the WORST sleeper.  We have a heck of a time getting him to sleep in his bed.  For a while, he would migrate to the floor beside the bed, but now, it's not odd to find him on the couch watching cartoons at 2 a.m.

This is where he was last night.  I went to put him back to bed and turn off all the lights he had on.  Suddenly, I took a double take and noticed that he had on my pajama pants!

"Hayden, what are you doing with my pajama's on?"

"I was cold and there is no blanket in here.  See mom, no blanket on the chair"

As if that answers everything.  Why didn't he just bring his own blankets from bed?  What on earth would make him come in and grab my pants?!?!  It made me laugh and think of this story.  To him, it was perfectly logical to just use my clothes. 

Always Read The Instructions!

As I was washing my hair in the shower tonight, I took time to read my shampoo bottle.

I am in shock!

The shampoo I use in the shower that runs down my entire body says "for extra volume and body"!

Seriously, why have I not noticed this before?

Now I understand why I am so "full-figured"!

Tomorrow I am going to start using "Dawn" dish soap.

It says right on the label "dissolves fat that is otherwise difficult to remove."

It pays to read the warning labels my friends!

HA HA!!

This little joke was shared at my weight loss meeting last night!  We all needed a little pick me up after what appeared to be pounds of Thanksgiving dinner had by all!

Kitchen and Garden Update

It's been so long, you probably don't even remember that I was working on updating my kitchen.  Last you saw, we had painted it a bright lime green.

That is where I stopped updating on my blog about the kitchen. 

Well, except for the floor, the kitchen is officially done!

On one wall, we put up some wainscoting left over from Mom and Dad's kitchen reno.  I felt it would help break up the brightness of the green.

For Christmas 2 years ago, Mom and Dad gave us the vinyl wall art you can see.   I hung it up in the front closet and waited and waited and waited until my kitchen was painted before putting it up. I knew right where I wanted it to go.

I love this quote and anyone who knows us well, knows that this is very pertinent to Brian's parents.  That is the reason mom picked it up for us!

In my mind, I knew exactly what I wanted in material for curtains.  It was just a matter of going to the fabric store and looking for it.  I picked up material for my curtains from the clearance section a while ago and asked mom if she would be able to have them done before Thanksgiving.  Let me say, my mom is the best!  She has about a gazillion other things to do, yet she managed to fit them in for me!

I just love the colours.  There was only 4 meters on the roll, so I bought it all and just PRAYED it would be enough for my curtains.  By a mear fluke, the blue stripe in the material matches the paint colour in the living room perfectly...almost like I did it on purpose, bringing together the 2 room perfectly! 
I picked out this material, KNOWING the colour stripes would bring together both rooms!

It is such a thrill to walk into the kitchen and see it finished!

On to the garden in the front of the house!

Brian and I got it dug without killing each other, and then all I had to do was wait until I got some plants.  I refused to pay full price, so it was a couple months of plain ol' dirt, waiting for lovely flowers to join it.  Brian kept saying,

"Are you going to get some plants this weekend?"

"Nope, just wait a bit longer and everything will be reduced!"

Was I right or was I right?  Pretty much every bush we got was 50% off! 

I am sure I have actually purchased too many and once they fill out in a year or so, it will be over crowded and I will have to thin it out...but I am a "satisfaction in the moment" kind of girl and I need results NOW!  Right now it looks perfect and that is good enough!

The cattails are actually solar lights I had purchased at Costco at the beginning of the season...having no idea where to put them...just that I liked them A LOT!.  Then it occurred to me, they would look perfect next to my dry river bed in the garden.

I have a rose bush that is still in bloom and I have to start thinking about how to get it ready for winter, despite the summer like conditions this past week.  This garden also came together so much better than I had expected.  The only thing I wish we had done was put some landscaping fabric under the rocks, because now the weeds are starting to grow up through them and it will be a pain for Brian to maintain!

On this Thanksgiving Monday, we decided this garden needed one more addition:

HA!

Isn't he hilarious?!?

Brian saw a picture of this guy and wanted to make one for ourselves.  So, he built the frame, I got the pumpkins and we put him together.  Later that evening, I painted up the face.  Now, we will have to replace the pumpkins again in a couple weeks I am sure, as they will rot now that there are holes in them, and we still need to attach his hands, but I think he is pretty funny!

Sheesh!!

This is another one of those stories about the joys of having a son.

How many of us married women look at our husbands...and go

"wow, they are just little kids in big bodies"

They do things that make us shake our heads in disbelief. 

I remember when Hayden was about 2 and we were visiting my mom.  For no reason, he took off and ran headfirst into the fridge.  We commented then how men are idiots from birth.

I tease and say when a woman is pregnant for the first time and people ask if this is her first child, instead of yes, she should say, "no, I'm married!"

For those of you who don't have little boys or perhaps I am just blessed, but penis fascination starts young!  From the time he was first able, Hayden had a hand on it whenever possible.

I never thought an everyday saying in my house would be:

"Hayden, get your hands out of your pants"

Jeeze, I have even had to say it at the dinner table a time or two.

If he doesn't have at least underwear on,  you won't have to worry about it being exposed...his hand will be covering it.

I clearly remember walking into the kitchen one afternoon, Hayden is standing there with his pants down and says:

"Hey mom, look.....it's big!"

*Sigh*

I'm used to it and I don't make a big deal about it.  We do discuss how touching our "parts" is something that should be done in the privacy of our bedrooms, however that is still to kick in.

Tonight, he is in the tub with Abby and they are playing with these little cups we have....only slightly larger than a shot glass, just to give you some perspective.

What does Hayden do?  Not what Abby does...she fills it with water and dumps it out repeatedly.

Hayden takes the cup and hides ALL of his "boy parts", and says:

"Hey mom, look, I made my wiener disappear!"

Oh my goodness!  Too funny really!

So, to any of you who do not have kids yet....consider yourself warned if you have a boy!

Hmm....

*****DISCLAIMER*****

If you are reading this...there's a very good chance you are a family member or dear friend. 

So first off, before you read this, all I ask is:

DON'T JUDGE ME!!!!!  And then just bust a gut laughing :-)

Our story starts a number of months ago when Brian brought home a nudey calendar from a truck driver at work.  And when I say, nude...I mean Playboy nude.  This is not the issue, it doesn't bother me, I don't cry out that items like that objectify women, etc.  After having a look through it, I told him he could hang it in the garage and recanted my stories of going with my dad to the City Works yard and the pictures hung on the walls there.  That being said, it's not out of view of my kids, etc and our house does not have a problem with nudity and we use it as an opportunity to discuss the human body and how men and women are different.

Anyway.....

This morning, I am buckling the kids into the car to leave for daycare and Hayden can clearly see Miss October.  Let me tell ya, she actually is dressed pretty conservatively and is only naked from the waist up.

"Mom?  Who is that girl?"

"Oh, I don't know."

"I think she's my girlfriend!"

"Oh, I don't know about that hunny, is that what you think?"

"Yup, and I think dad knows her"

DO YOU BRIAN????  DO YOU KNOW THE NAKED WOMAN ON YOUR WALL????

So anyway, this started my morning with a chuckle....out of the mouth of babes, let's just hope this doesn't make it to circle time at daycare this morning!  Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate the naked women in the garage! :-)