Have a Happy Halloween!

We've got pumpkins!

We've got costumes!

We've got tons of candy to give out!

(Hopefully, it's enough...This is our first Halloween in the new house and apparently we now live in trick or treat central.  I've had three different neighbors pull me aside to ask if I've bought enough candy and warn me that we will need A LOT.)

My husband's parents are visiting so we even have grandparents to help us party.

The plan is for me to man the door while my husband takes the kiddos around the neighborhood.  My son has the route all planned out.

I think we're ready!

Have a great Halloween.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

My house has been a spooky place this past week.  There has been a foul witch haunting these parts, but I think she has been vanquished!

I'm not sure what is going on, but I've been a little too in touch with my inner hag.  I am planning to dress up as a witch for the big day, but I wasn't planning on embracing the role so thoroughly! (Maybe I can just claim I was method acting?)

There isn't really anything wrong.  All the small things just added up and my world starting to feel a bit too heavy. My minions have been misbehaving more than usual.  Sleep has been elusive on account of teething and too much Halloween excitement.  My husband went on a work trip last week.  I have two giant pimples on my chin. I have a bigger than normal list of crap to take care of.  But really I have nothing major to complain about and yet I find myself bitching.

I am normally a glass half full kind of girl, but this past week all I see is the empty half of everything. I generally roll with the punches, but I pretty much fell down about a week ago.

So I'm trying to pick myself back up.  I've been drinking a few more cups of tea and squeezing in time to visit with friends.  I am working a little less this week and reading a bit more.  I've been trying to find fun activities to do with the kiddos.  I've been avoiding the depressing news and sticking with the Style section of the paper.  And I might have broke into the Halloween candy a little early. 

And it is helping.  Today is the first day I've really felt like myself for awhile. I think I've got my groove back. (I suspect it was hiding in the bottom of a glass of Sangria I drank last night out with friends.)

Hopefully, the witch is really dead. I really didn't like having her around.

What I Know to be True

I’m addicted to watching TED talks. TED is a non-profit dedicated to sharing ideas worth spreading. How cool is that? TED.com has a ton of relatively short talks by a outstanding speakers, all completely free.

If you’ve never checked TED out, I highly recommend paying them a visit.

Anyway, I recently watched a TED talk by spoken word poet, Sarah Kay.

I’ve never really gotten spoken word poetry, but I really enjoyed this talk. Any woman who talks about inspiring people to rediscover wonder is speaking my language. It was definitely a well spent 20 minutes.

One of the things that Sarah said was that she assigns lists to help jump start kids into writing poetry. One of the lists she typically assigns is “10 Things I know to Be True” and this idea seemed to be begging to become a blog post.

So in honor of Sarah Kay’s Ted talk here is my list.

10 Things I Know to Be True

1. Life is not one size fits all.

2. Points should be awarded for effort.

3. My children bring out the best and the worst in me.

4. The golden rule is still pretty golden.

5. I am a work in progress.

6. Ready is essential to my sanity. Life gets pretty drab (and so do I) when I don't feed my brain interesting things.

7. The little things matter.

8. Holidays are more fun with kids around. 

9. I love my family.

10. If you've been out of high school for more than 10 years and you're still sporting the same 'do, you should seriously consider a new hairstyle.

I found this harder than I expected, but I thought it was an interesting exercise.  I know some of these items are clique, but I don’t think that makes them any less true.  It's funny how I thought I'd know all the answers by the time I was my age, but I still feel like I'm learning to ask the right questions.

What do you know to be true?

Have a fantastic day.

All Fired Up

In addition to the pumpkin patch adventure last weekend, we stopped by our local fire station’s open house. It was a very cool event. Every October the fire house opens their doors to local kids to help educate them about fire safety in a fun way. The fireman answered questions, gave out plastic fire hats and even let the kids use some of their equipment.

My kiddos got to “drive” the fire truck and ambulance-

And my son even got to spray the fire hose. (I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to top this one.)

It was really a neat adventure for my little ones. I think they both learned a little something too. The firemen did a good job telling the kids to never hide if there is a fire and to go to a fireman if they see one. I’ve never thought about it before, but a fireman in full gear must be terrifying to a young child. As much fun as these events are, I bet they save lives every year.

The fireman also reinforced that you should dial 911 in case of an emergency. My son recently learned this lesson and I am a bit nervous that my son is going to misuse his new skills.

J knows to call 911 if there is an emergency, but I don’t think he’s put two and two together and realized that 911 has the ability to summon a fire truck to our house. I won’t be surprised at all if my little guy is inspired to try the whole thing out one of these days. I just hope I’m not on a first name basis with the fire chief by the end of the year!

Hope you are all having a great week.

Patch Job

I thought I'd at least nailed the festive background, but I just noticed the lovely power lines.

The weather was nice, but the subjects were a little overly excited.

Thank goodness for digital photography! 

I'm not even sure what that face is my son is making and Audrey is trying to escape.

This was a near miss.  They just don't look like they are having fun and Audrey has jazz hands.  I will probably print it out and mail to the grandmothers because it's pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to photos of my kids (at least when I have the camera).

If you ignore the power lines, we were able to get some decent shots individually.

Audrey isn't exactly smiling, but I think she still looks cute.

I'm a big believer that photos aren't the point, that's it's more about the experience.  And the experience was great.  The kids had a blast and pumpkins were purchased. But I still wish I could get a great shot once in awhile.

Hope all your fall adventures have been fun so far! 

Marathon Mama

Check this out - Woman gives birth after running Chicago marathon

According to the article, a woman completed a marathon nearly 39 weeks pregnant and then gave birth a few hours later.

I'm not even sure what to think about that.

She had her doctor's blessing to run the marathon.  She's a very experienced runner who has now completed 8 marathons.  Both mom and baby are healthy.

But..

It still seems a bit over the top.  I feel like I need to stop judging, especially since my main source of exercise in my third trimester was to waddle to the bathroom a hundred times a day, but I can't really help myself. 

Running a marathon super pregnant just seems like a bad idea.  To be fair, I guess I should admit that running a marathon in general doesn't really excite me.

Oh - the kicker is that this is the third time she's run a marathon while pregnant.  She completed a marathon last May when she was 17 weeks pregnant with this same baby and she ran a marathon in 2009 while 18 weeks pregnant with her one year old son.

The only side effect of running the marathon 39 weeks pregnant - blisters on her feet.

Maybe we should clone this gal?  She must have super powers.

My Cake Pop Wrecks

Before I show you the following photos, I feel the need for a disclaimer.  I am not a super star in the kitchen, but I'm not hopeless.  I cook nearly all our meals at home, have mastered yeast and can even make my mom's English toffee.  Family Circle just totally schooled me on this one.

In a fit of overachieving, I got inspired to try to make these cake pops for my MOMS Club meeting this morning-

According to the magazine, you just bake a cake mix, crumble it, chill it and dip it in melted candy coating and decorate them.  I figured it would be time consuming, but clean, family fun for all ages.

I thought I could handled this one.

Wrong.

My mutant cat creations aren't nearly as well groomed or appetizing as the photo. It was nearly impossible to keep them together during the dipping process.

The melted candy coating was like a ray gun that disintegrated the cake balls on contact.

It ended with me angrily dumping candy coating on my surviving cake balls, resulting in some fairly disturbing demonic cookies.

So instead of being the mom who bought the super cute cake pops, I'm the mom who bought hot mess cookies with eyes. 

Cake Pops 1, Me 0.

Darn you Family Circle and your promises of easy Halloween treats.

(I doubled checked and I correctly followed the instructions in the freaking article.)

I can't let these things defeat me! There will be another round and next time I'm determined that my cake pops will actually be on sticks and will not look like evil mutants.


So...do any of you domestic divas has any suggestions?  Am I missing some super secret tricks on this one?  Please help me conquer the cake pops!

Age of the Beholder

A friend of mine generously passes along her magazines to me. This bunch included Glamour (which she assured me she got by accident).

Anyway, this is the first time I’ve even glanced at a Glamour since college and I have to say that the scenery looks pretty different these days. I’m so uncool now that I don’t even think most of the outfits in Glamour are cute.

I’m not shocked by my lack of style, but I was taken aback by the age of a few of the “real life” ladies featured in the magazine. For instance, 30 year old Anne was photographed at a music festival wearing shorts so short that the pockets showed. (I thought it was telling that the women’s ages were even included along with their photos.)

I’m 31. I can’t really remember the last time I went to a music festival. I have however made quite a splash at the merry-go-round of four year old birthday parties this year.

It’s just interesting to see how different my reality is from the lives of these women. I’m not trying to say that one is better than the other. The pages of Glamour are exist in a parallel universe from the one I live in.

Anyway despite our differences, Glamour and I were having a pretty good time right until I came to a page that said this in giant font – “At 16 you can drive. At 18 you can vote. At 21 you can drink. At 25 you hit your quarter-life crisis. And then comes 30, when you suddenly irrevocably transform into…and Old Person. Right? Wrong”

Any magazine that feels the need to reassure me that 30 isn’t really old, can’t be my friend.

At first I was kind of pissed, but then I realized that I’m the one out of line here. I really have no business judging Glamour by my “old” standards (or reading it for that matter). I am clearly not their demographic. If I’m being really honest, I’m pretty sure my 20 year old self would judge my minivan lifestyle harshly so I shouldn't hold a fear of turning 30  against the current crop of 20 somethings.

But as somebody who has had a 30th birthday and survived, I just wish younger people knew that getting older has some awesome fringe benefits.

Most of us quit worrying so much what others think, which is so very liberating. You’ll likely discover the joys of classic style and quit wasting time and money on trends. You aren’t wasting energy figuring out what you want to be when you grow up – because you ALREADY are grown up.

There is beauty in leaving beyond the uncertainties of youth and finally figuring out who you really want to be.

So maybe my ass isn’t what it once was.  I wouldn’t trade the confidence of my 30s for the body of my 20s.

(Sorry Glamour – but we still can’t be friends. We aren’t good for each other.)

Design Inspiration

We bought a new house last winter and it is likely to be THE house. I’m pretty sure this is the home where I will raise my babies and spend the vast majority of my adult life.

There is quite a bit more space in the new digs and I’ve been in a decorating frenzy since the move. I love this house and I want to make it beautiful.

But I’ve also realized that I want something beyond just pretty, I really want to create a meaningful home. Ideally, the house would be both full of meaning and lovely.

I'm not sure I can pull it off, but there's one of my attempts so far-

(And yes, I realize the photo is pretty bad.  I'm crap with a camera so this is as good as it got.)

It’s a collection of sketches from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. (The art was cut from a used book and the frames were bought on sale at Michael’s.)

I love Leonardo da Vinci. I find him to be fabulously fascinating.

Obviously, he’s best known as a painter, but the man was truly a genius who dabbed in just about everything. Beyond his skill as an artist, he was accomplished as an architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, anatomist, geologist, botanist, writer and engineer.

I’m an engineer by training, which is a field associated with a plethora of well-earned stereotypes. I know I tend to lean toward the left side of my brain, but I try to lead a well rounded life. I love the possibilities that a man like da Vinci opens. He gives me hope that maybe there is a little bit of artist, engineer, architect, musician, etc in all of us.

These pictures remind me that each of us is full of potential. They also inspire me to turn off the TV, get off the couch and do something productive myself.

I’m not sure others will find the pictures beautiful, but I love them.

The Kicking Queen

Did you see this headline? - Homecoming queen kicks winning field goal

I thought it was a pretty neat story.  A high school girl was crowned Homecoming Queen (in a football uniform with full pads) and then ends up kicking the winning field goal in the football game.

I always enjoy a lady who can turn stereotypes on their heads, especially if she can look good going it. 

According to the article, this same young lady sports a 4.0 gpa and serves as the student body treasurer.  Who can really tell from a newspaper article, but she seemed sweet and humble despite her impressive accomplishments.

I am a big fan of the fact that she is a good student. As much as I love the drama of a winning field goal, I'm a believer that academics have to come before extracurriculars. 

I hope my daughter has plenty of role models like this in her future.  I'd much rather she admire a football playing homecoming queen than Katy Perry and the rest of the current crop of pop queens. 

I want my little girl to grow up knowning that she can be anything and that it's possible to be feminine and still kick a little ass.

How to Pimp Your Blog on a Budget

So... I changed my blog design… again. (Sorry, I know I'm a bit out of control with the blog template changes this week. I promise I'm done now.)

I just haven’t been happy using generic templates. I kept running into my blog design more times than you’d think possible. Finding an identical blog is even worse than wearing the same dress to a party. It’s more akin to wearing the same face as a stranger and nobody wants that.

I realize that I could theoretically create my own custom blog header, but my attempts to do so have been shockingly lame.

There was no way I was paying to have a customize blog design built. The few times I was brave enough to google the idea, I was traumatized by the price of admission.

But once again Etsy has rocked my world and proven that it is one of the coolest sites on the web.

Just on a whim I decided to search Etsy for blogger templates. There are actually a whole bunch of options available at a range of price points. (Did you guys know that? I had no idea.)

I found a wonderful shop called Design Muse that sells some pretty nifty premade blogger templates for $25.   The blog designs include a blog button, a signature graphic, header and background - the whole works.

The only bit I didn’t love was that the templates are resold. I really didn't want to run into my exact header in bloggyland, even if this was a huge step up from a freebie download.

I figured it was worth a shot so I asked if it was possible to have a header customized and she agreed to it for a very reasonable additional fee.

So now I have my very own unique blog design! I got to support a Etsy shop and I didn’t completely blow my budget. Everybody wins!

I highly recommend the Design Muse. She was responsive, pleasant and affordable. If you too dream of a unique blog design, this is a very realistic way to make it a reality.  (She makes Etsy shop banners too if you're in the market.)

Blog on people!  Blog on!