Splinty

remember when I told you about Fi turfing it on Mad's scooter last month? Here she is the day of the exam & x-rays and "Splinty". In fact, this is immediately after the x-rays. As you can see, she doesn't appear to be in much pain:

elections

good news: I got the official letter yesterday stating that I will be an election judge next week Tuesday! Yay! It's very exciting! 6am-8pm will be a long day, though. I guess no partying for me on my birthday the day before :(

bad news -well, not really bad news, but just an opinion: Is anyone else so sick of the election just because of all the junk mail? I swear I have never received so much junk mail in my adult life. Every day, there's 4 or 5 pieces of mail addressed to me -mostly in support of the Obama campaign. Okay, it's his money, his grassroots, non-stop campaigning that's allowed him to have money to spend on more campaigning (e.g. the infomercial last night that I did not watch because we were carving pumpkins). But ya know what? It's starting to feel like overkill. So I'm a registered "unaffiliated" voter. Does that mean I need alot of crap in my mailbox -that I have to take the time to shred (yes, everything with my name and address on it)? How about if Obama took all that campaign money & did some good works with it instead of spending it on increasing our landfills with useless phamplets and flyers -glossy, no less. THAT would make a better impression on me than the junk mail that I don't even read. I've gotten a few McCain flyers. And just based on sheer advertisement volume, I suppose it's no wonder Obama is ahead in the polls thus far. But I tell ya what, I almost want to not vote for Obama just because of all the junk mail. It's really a good thing election day is next week. Another couple weeks of this nonsense & I would for sure vote for Nader again.

if you need a good laugh, watch this:

Did anyone catch the original Andy Samburg as Mark Wahlburg skit on SNL? G laughed his ass off; I didn't think it was that funny (typical of SNL these days -except Tina Fey as Sara Palin -or any Justin Timberlake as host). Here's the follow-up:



Then last week we were watching a DVR'd SNL with the girls. The following skit came on:



& OMG! Now that was humorous! (Yeah, the Marky Mark eye candy was nice.) Even the girls enjoyed it. It has been quoted during many dinnertime conversations, randomly quoted during the week -as in "Hey mom. You're doing dishes. How's that going? Say, hi to your mother for me."- and of course it got a lot of play at the pumpkin patch on Saturday when the girls saw the livestock. Yesterday after school Fiona ran up to me, "Mom! I told Stella 'Say hi to yuh muthah fuh me!'" (yes she has the perfect "r" for that Boston accent.) Hmmmm, I wonder if anyone else will understand what she's really getting at, or will it just be her own little joke?

...Mark Wahlburg, still hot.

sigh

why oh why is it sooooooo disappointing when the Steelers lose?

just futzin' around

OMG. It's like 70 degrees outside & here I sit at my computer. I'm feeling homesick these days. Trying to convince G that we should move back East. To Pittsburgh, particularly. Everyone would fit right in -even he admits that the girls are all Penguins/Steelers/Pirates fans (yes, I've taught my young padawans well). He said he got a job offer...in L.A. That would be well and good (albeit FARTHER away from home); we'd be near the ocean, the weather would be milder in the winter. Stuff like that -all good. BUT I imagine we'd be living far from L.A. proper & instead of a 20 minute drive to work, G could plan on adding a couple hours. AND I'm trying to save money by lowering our cost of living -not spending more money on a higher cost of living.

There are other advantages to moving to the 'burgh. Closer to family, friends, friends who are like family. A return to traditions celebrated. Stuff like that- stuff I miss that we've never yet been able to even come close to replicating out here.

Maybe I should make a list of pros & cons. Shop the job & housing market.

Ideas, anyone?

Autumn Leaf Festival yum

The littles have never been to the annual Fall festivities in my hometown, Clarion PA. Thankfully, my sister thought of us from afar & texted to ask if I wanted any taffy. Sounds like a rhetorical question to me. OF COURSE I want taffy! Just the thought of it brings back olfactory memories of cinnamon wafting in the air. I think by the looks on the littles' faces, they too are quite pleased with the sweets. Fi chose the grape flavor, hence the very purple tongue. Lib just wanted what was "pretty". I love her little devilish grin...suuuuuuugaaaaaar mwahahaha!

more pics from the Denver Zombie Crawl '08

Denver Zombie crawl '08

I did Snick's, Lib's & my own make-up. Mads, Fi & Garrett each did their own. Fi was a little freaked out & wanted to go home. We tried to explain to her how EVERYONE was wearing makeup just like us. I suggested that G put her on his shoulders so she wouldn't be so little & "vulnerable". That kind of helped; she still didn't want to be amongst the melee at the end of the crawl. Lib was okay with being there, but she wouldn't do her brilliantly executed zombie walk -not even for Snick. We stopped for a little refreshment on our way back to the car. While G was with me inside the Jamba Juice, the girls sat outside on the mall with their "brain juice". Come to find out later that a few over-zealous zombies walked by the girls & one of them came up behind Lib & growled at her, scaring her. Lib turned around & in her biggest, bravest voice told the jag-off "GO AWAY!!" Good girl!

the family photos:

happenings

What we are doing tomorrow...yes, as a family. the 2008 zombie crawl. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

And what I did last weekend. the Great American Beer Festival. It was my 3rd year of volunteering. I'm looking forward to doing this for as long as I live in Colorado. This year I even talked our friend V into volunteering with me. Mark your calendars for next year (Laurie!); I already have.

ah, the new upstairs bathroom faucet set. love it.

See what I mean, when I say the old set just looked too small? I suppose I should take a pic of the entire vanity/sink area to really get the point across. AND the old set had all these crevices that were entirely too much work to get clean every couple days. Life should be easy peasy lemon squeezy. Hence, I found this new set that is all smooth with very few crevices to catch toothpaste dribbles, etc. I don't foresee any problems with the handles stripping out, either -like the old set did on the right side. Fewer parts, fewer problems, I think. Hmmmm, maybe I should take some plumbing classes & then be able to do more than just replace faucets. Or maybe I'll just stick with my DIY projects for now.

Next up: pics of the girls' "new" bookshelf (and the story behind it)

and still more

so Maddie asked to do the dishes when she came home from school (there were none). And again when she came home from choir (we hadn't eaten dinner yet). She didn't get to do the dishes after dinner b/c it was too late; but she asked if she could wake up early & wash them before school. Wow. Pretty darn amazing, isn't it?

And more amazing? Feefer read me "Green Eggs and Ham" tonight. Well, mostly. I'll bet, though, that she'll be reading on her own by Christmas. fo' sho'. Lib won't be far behind.

Have I told you how amazing this new school is for the girls? I've told everybody else -including the three teachers & the principal. This has been the best school experience we've had with Maddie since Kindergarten! I kid you not. Are you sure I haven't told you? Mad's doing her homework. Every day. With no complaints! And turning her homework in! And the graded papers I've seen have been mostly 90% and above with a few high 80's thrown in. I'm truly grateful. I mean, I always knew she was a smart kid. But for some reason, sadly, she hasn't since Kindergarten had a teacher who was concerned whether or not she was actually understanding the work, or handing the work in. Weird, huh? Isn't that the teacher's job? I mean, especially in elementary school? She complained that the new teacher was "too strict"; I told her that the teacher wasn't there to be her friend, but to make sure she was getting an education & to help her learn to be a good student with good study skills. FINALLY! It's sinking in. She no longer thinks her teacher is too strict. It must just have been a "getting used to doing things differently" period. Did I mention how much I love this school?

Feefer & Lib are also thriving. Tonight Lib was painting & says aloud "Now I'm going to paint with primary colors". What four year old says that? Yes, school has become Lib's favorite place -really, even more so than home. "I hate home. I only love school." Well, that was after she had to leave Lindsay & Trev's house one day this past week. And Feefer is up & ready for school usually before anyone else.
I've already told you about her wanting so badly to read. And she walks around quoting a bit of the school motto, "we stop when someone says stop. Because that's who we are, even when no one is watching." And Lib likes the character trait she's learned: "Treat others the way you want to be treated" -with hand motions to go with. Fi's learned that one too -but without the hand motions. Did I mention how much I love this school? And they do the Pledge of Allegiance. As in, everyone stops what they're doing -even in the halls & the office- and pledge.

You can't even imagine how grateful I am that we've moved to this school. And it's only been 2 months. Two months & already it's better than 4 years at Cory. Seriously. And to think that Cory is rated "excellent" because of their CSAP scores. AND they got a write-up in 5280 as one of the best public elementary schools in Denver. Bull Crap. That's what I've got to say about that. CSAP means nothing to me -other than kids are prepped on how to take a standardized test -and boy are they ever at Cory. It seemed to me that way too much of the time was spent in CSAP preparation. Two months in and I have yet to see Maddie bring home anything resembling CSAP prep. Another reason for the 5280 mention? Cory raised $96,000 at their school auction this past year. So OF COURSE they look like they've got an involved PTA, etc. So they can afford to buy a new computer lab, etc. But what about character development? And quality education? hmph. I'll take lower CSAPs and a smaller budget any day if my kids can have those last two items that Cory is missing. I'll say it again, I LOVE our new school!!

new fambly member, etc

no, I'm NOT preggers again. The Madster bought herself a blue, male betta yesterday. "Little Dude". She purchased all of the equipment last week and then pestered me every day -at least 10 times a day- until she was able to go back to Petsmart and get the actual fish. The deal was that she had to keep her room clean for 28 days. It was most of the time. She paid for it all herself & in order to earn more money, as of last night, she's taken on doing the dishes as a daily chore. And what a fine job she did too! I'm talkin' every dish clean -including pots & pans, the dishwasher loaded, the table wiped clean. Not to be a spoil-sport, but I hope it lasts longer than just last night. It was a huge help, as G was able to bath the littles while I folded about 4 loads of laundry, all at the same time that Mad was occupied in the kitchen. Lovely, really. Now to decide on a "pay scale". Oh, and she did all the research & set up the habitat all by herself. Seriously. This is going to be a great learning experience for her.

In other news, my fantasy football team is doing OK. Really. At first I wasn't too into it, because I had never participated before. And G was less than helpful in telling me how it all actually works. Bah. Who needs him? I sorted it out for myself & am in 3rd place in my division: 2-2-1. It's kind of fun, actually. I'd probably have a better record except for that week that I forgot to make any lineup changes & handed G his first win. (yeah, you're welcome.) Maddie's already stated that she wants to participate next year -after she finally understood why she couldn't just jump into play after the season had already started. Actually, it's alot of fun -especially when G is 2-3, right behind me. Mwah! Love you too! hehehehe!

AND! In case you hadn't heard! The Jonas Brothers will be performing at halftime of the Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game! So exciting for our house. Garrett & I can watch a game with no complaints -except for the "is it halftime yet" question every 5 minutes, I'm sure.

as the world turns

my, how quickly life can throw changes at me. As of yesterday, I am looking for a new job. Yes, as much as I liked my new job, yesterday they made 21 job cuts; me being one of the new kids, I got the axe. C'est la vie. Not wanting to sit around and mope (& needing money to pay the bills, etc), I applied for about 15 jobs online as soon as I got home. I will say, at least while I was writing scripts for employment ads, I was reassured that the job market is still quite healthy. Just not a job for a company that makes most of it's money from Real Estate ads. That market isn't doing so well.

BUT there is work to be done, and work to be had, so I know the perfect job is out there for me. I'm not too stressed yet. And I've worked out a part-time gig that will afford me to keep Olivia in ECE full time; so that's a relief. I was all set to talk to the principal about moving her to a 1/2 day class. That would have been a bummer since she loves school so much & has made good friends.

Elsewhere, I've replaced the faucet set in the upstairs bathroom. It was easy. The problem I ran into, though, was that the cold water feed was aluminum & probably as old as the house (1958), so when I moved the tubing to put in the new set, it cracked a teeny bit. Then I took off the shut off valve for the cold water & the tube completely snapped in two. The aluminum tubing was attached to the shut off valve, so I had to replace that also. Unfortunately the valve & male connector were so corroded that the threads on the male connector were damaged when I took off the valve. Gah! I couldn't get the new valve on! AND THEN, I couldn't get the corroded male connector piece off the pipe that runs into the wall. It was very frustrating...especially since I had made 4 trips to Home Depot, & it was now 7pm on a Sunday evening. Needless to say, we went without water for the night -and the next day. Yes, very rustic indeed. Fortunate for us that Garrett's sister lives about a mile away & we were able to use her tub/shower. The hardest part was the girls didn't want to use the toilet without flushing it between each use -good luck with that with no water. They were all set to squat behind a bush in the back yard. Seriously. They weren't buying the old hippie proverb "If it's yellow, let it mellow...." LUCKILY, my brother was in town on Monday & was able get that piece off for me. Sadly he also finished connecting the water back onto the faucet set. Well, at least I had already done most of the work, so it wasn't a complete failure on my part. I mean, I could easily have reconnected the water, & I told him so. He said since he was already under there, he might as well just finish it. Hey, ya know, at least I was able to afford to do this minor repair while I still had my job, so that's one repair completed! And it does look lovely, if I do say so myself :)

What's goin' on?

me: new job as a scriptwriter for a neat company called Digital Media Communications. I dig it. It sounds kind of "glamorous": I write scripts for voice overs for online video employment classifieds. So when you go to Monster.com or Yahoojobs.com or one of those sites to view an employment video, you will hear someone else's voice speaking my words. It is kind of cool, actually. I haven't gotten to that jaded stage where all of my ads sound the same & the information I provide is very general. I'm still at the newbie stage, I guess, where I feel like I'm getting paid to write an ad to sell a job & I want it to sell, so I put some thought into what I write -if that makes sense. I prefer to do a little bit of online research into the company I'm writing for & customize the ad as much as possible, and to mix up the verbiage I use in the script. I mean, that is what the client is paying for, correct?

I've written a few rentals and home tours and a couple community profiles scripts, as well. Those are actually fun(ish) b/c I get to describe some pretty darn nice homes.

Why else do I love my job? It works around my schedule so I can drop off & pick up the girls from school. And I have Wednesdays off. No, you don't understand what a treat that is. The first day off I had with no child's doctor's appointment was almost surreal. I was actually able to walk around Capitol Hill BY MYSELF, at my pace, not the pace of the shortest legs. No one to complain or whine to me about anything. No, really, you don't understand. It's been about 6 years since I've had that luxury. Really. The realization that the day was my own put an ear to ear perm-a-grin on my face. And then I got my nose pierced. Twice. Ah, that would be one of the other things I love about my job. More hours & more $$. And actually having some money on a regular basis without wondering weekly how I will be able to afford to pay my bills & pay for the girls' needs, etc. And I have some spending money without having to sacrifice any of the above. It's pretty sweet.

The only sucky thing is now I'm sitting at a computer all day and not getting ANY physical exercise. I've already put on weight in the month I've been there. Yikes. So today, you know what I did? I joined Weight Watchers. That's right. I saw a friend on Wednesday who has been doing WW all summer & she's lost 31 lbs! I need something to kick in my motivation. Because I don't feel I'm getting a whole lot of support at home as regards food, I have decided to suck it up & pay to go to meetings to get support. We'll see how it goes. I've met other women who have had sustained weight loss success with WW. I'm hoping I can re-train myself to eat better & proper portions again. Maybe some of what I learn will rub off on the Madster -as far as good food choices & what a portion is.

OMG! I just heard a chickadee outside. What a cool sound. I know, I'm weird. But I miss birdsong here in Denver. It's usually all traffic noise & woodpeckers, robins, crows and morning doves.

Oh, and get this. I wrote a freaking fantastic movie in my sleep this morning between the hours of 5am & 730am. I did not have time to write it down because of time constraints. I shall try to write what I remember tonight. Yay!