Watching The Wheels

 "I've been baking bread and looking after the baby...Everyone else who has asked me that question over the last few years says. 'But what else have you been doing?' To which I say, 'Are you kidding?' Because bread and babies, as every housewife knows, is a full-time job. After I made the loaves [of bread,] I felt like I had conquered something. But as I watched the bread being eaten, I thought, Well, Jesus, don't I get a gold record or knighted or nothing?" - John Lennon




Even John Lennon appreciated the work of an at-home parent... bc he WAS one :) The video is of a song he wrote about his choice to stay home instead of being on the road all the time







"The joy is still there when I see Sean. He didn't come out of my belly, but my God, I've made his bones, because I've attended to every meal, and how he sleeps, and the fact that he swims like a fish because I took him to the ocean. I'm so proud of all his things. But he is my biggest pride." - John Lennon

Even More Catch Up and my Birthday!

how did we do on our fall bucket list? There's still time to make a pie! Maybe even a bonfire...

 I have kept my political opinions generally to myself for the EXACT reason that I see happening all over facebook/LIFE. Friends and family tearing into each other... I in no way think that Obama is perfect, but PLEASE PEOPLE... have some respect for the *re elected* leader of our nation and for other people's opinions. This is Democracy and it IS progress. I voted for him and as easy as it is to stand by someone when they have already won... I feel safe enough to talk about it. Facebook became a hostile environment and spawned so much hatred and foul conversations and name calling between people that otherwise like each other. I refused to get on board.

In other news, I turned 29 yesterday. I had a great laid back day that involved watching the 4 or so inches of the first snowfall of the year melt away in the sun. Maris had school and Jim had work. Jackson and I headed to the consignment shop and used up my store credit to get some Lands End snow boots and coats for the kiddos and a few pairs of pjs and pants. (and some books for Santa to bring. Hey, what do they care where I get them or if they were pre-read?) then headed to Kmart with my sister and got myself a pair of jeans that FIT me! We really didn't have the money for it, but with us not going out for my birthday, we had that money free. In retrospect, I should have gotten FOOD... but today is payday. ONE DAY we won't live paycheck to paycheck.
 Anyways, my awwesome Mom threw me a family dinner party and I drank moscato champagne and bailey's, ate tons of delicious food and my stepdad always gets me cannolis :) I love my family. This beat going out to any restaurant any day!

 my drunken trifle. brownie soaked in baileys, white cake soaked in kahlua, 2 types of pudding, crushed halloween oreos layer, heath bar layer... yum.

 Beatles gift and Beatles card. It's like they know me... :p

and this is how I helped to clean up haha

Holy Catch Up Batman!

In the post previous to this I was talking about how true friends can pick up where they left off no matter how much time passes... my friend Geoffrey surprised me with a visit a few days after I posted that and took me out to an early birthday dinner. We played bar trivia and laughed and carried on like we see each other all the time. It breaks my heart that he's a distance away and my kids have only met one of my best friends in the world maybe 3 times... but we make it work in our own dysfunctional way. We text and stuff all the time and keep in touch but we actually come face to face usually about once a year. Lots of rambling... but just wanted to follow up on the previous post about friendship. I've been having issues with certain people that were in my life and aren't so much anymore. Learning to focus on the people that want to be here in my life and not on those who apparently don't...
but anyways I have a lot of catching up to do on here.

 Josh's birthday/Halloween party

 pumpkin picking and fall fun with another best friend Trina. The kids love Aunt Trina

 we went in the bouncy house with the kids, it was fun!

 this Obama mask in the haunted house was offensive in my opinion... I almost wanted to leave, and would have, if the kids weren't having such a blast

 then the Hurricane Sandy hit and we were without power for 6 days, well we got power back on the 6th day. The first night was amusing to us. The kids went to bed and we lit candles and drank and played board games by candlelight...

 the winds were so strong, it was scary. It blew the kids playhouse right over but thankfully we put almost everything in our shed that survived the storm. The neighbors swingset was destroyed and the slide was in the stream by our house. I am so thankful that ours survived. the kids would have been heartbroken.

 the power outage left us with a below 40 degree house and no running water so we camped out at Jim's parents house. The kiddos were happy to have cable lights and water.

 The Halloween came and Maris had school (one of the only schools in the area still in session due to the hurricane and power outages) and I volunteered for the school class party by donating my photo taking :)

 after she was out of school, we got dressed up and ready to go trick or treating. Due to mass power outages in the area, there wasn't much of a choice in where we could go so we headed to the indoor mall - o - ween and what an ordeal...

 this picture was early on when I could sill move around! it was shoulder to shoulder people. Horrible.

 then the gas outages started and we saw a lot of this happening. It took me 2 hours of driving around the county before I could fill up.

Jackson didn't have school until the following Monday but they still held Halloween and he opted for his Buzz dress up outfit I got at a yard sale last year. It fit him well and he had a great time :)

On the 6th morning of no power, I got a glorious text from my friend/neighbor that said we had power back so we finally got to head home and air out the house and throw away a lot of spoiled food. Other people had it far worse, just happy to be home and warm and safe. We will be eating a lot of ramen and cereal etc until I pick up more hours since I missed a lot of work from the storms.