Just Call Me Martha . . . .

. . . Stewart, that is. :) This year I decided that I was tired of the same ol' pumpkin carving routine so I bought some patterns and some little detailing saws and decided to get creative. Oh yeah, how cool are THESE jack-o-lanterns?? My personal favorite is the ghost - the other is a funny face that Noah picked out - and of course my stupid camera doesn't do justice to these masterpieces - I tried a hundred different shots and couldn't really get any good ones (glare, shadows, etc.), but at least you get the idea. This was even kind of fun, and better yet, the boys LOVED them. They were very happy with the results. Here they are preparing the canvases for the artist (that would be me):

Actually, here's the story behind the story: (Jack and Noah don't like how the inside FEELS, so Dad got scoop-out duty) . . .

Jack and Noah wondered if we could keep them forever. Um, no. Yuck.

Havin' an awfully busy week here - stuff going on every night! The big event, of course, is tomorrow night - Halloween party at school and then trick or treating around the neighborhood. Saturday is Mark's birthday, so there'll be lots of celebrating going on, and a few surprises lined up . . . . Stay tuned . . . .

The iPod . . . .

. . . . is the greatest cleaning tool ever invented! :) I know, you're thinking "what???" - allow me to explain. Here's my order of cleaning house "before iPod":

• sit around read the paper until the guilt finally takes over and I vacuum the carpet upstairs
• then take a break and check my email
• do my make-up - gotta look good for cleaning house, you know
• do the hard floors upstairs
• turn on Fox News and see what the headlines are
• return some phone calls
• dust the bedrooms
• check the email again - something important HAD to have come since the last time I checked
• reorganize a drawer or two
• clean two of the three bathrooms
• go get the mail
• sit down and flip through a magazine
• see where the markets are at (have to know what mood hubby will be in when he gets home)
• dust the living room
• return some more phone calls
• check that email again, you just never know . . .
• give up and go get the kids from school with only 1/2 the house cleaned and me feeling irritated and distracted.

NOW, the iPod has changed all that. I had a long day of cleaning ahead of me today, so at 8:30 a.m. I clipped the iPod on, cranked my favorite playlist and WENT TO TOWN!! Music just makes things go a little easier, no? I jammed my way around the house, actually enjoying myself - I was a machine, people - got the whole house done (okay, except the office) by 2:00 p.m. - with an hour to spare!! AND I sewed some buttons on a shirt and got 4 loads of laundry done at the same time. Whew! Still feeling energized and motivated after I picked the kids up from school, I whipped up a YUMMY dinner - no recipe - my own taco-casserole-concoction-thing - and everyone loved it. Am I every woman or what? (ha ha).

However, the best part of my day was bedtime with the kids - Mark is at his men's small group tonight and I was feeling pretty good about finishing our devotional right at 7:30, thinking lights out right on time . . . . but God and Jack and Noah had a different plan! Our devotional tonight got the boys' wheels turning and they started in with ALL these questions - not the kind where you know they are trying to dawdle and stay up later - but genuine, heart-felt questions about their faith. We ended up having an HOUR-LONG discussion about Jesus - what an amazing privilege. And a huge responsibility - wow. I'm learning, as they are getting older, that bedtimes are precious - they really tend to open up and share their hearts so much more at bedtime than any other time. So I'm taking that as my reward for my hard work today!

In other news, Mark's spirits seem to be lightening (thank heavens!) despite the circumstances. The other night he was talking about selling everything, moving to Grand Cayman and getting a job at a bank there. NOW the man is talking some sense!!! He's finally gettin' his head back on straight. THIS is a plan I can get behind! I told him you say the word and we're there. (Sorry family - but Grand Cayman vs. South Dakota - ? c'mon!!!)

Anyway, we're not packing yet, but one can hope . . . . . .

Not Rocket Science!

Yesterday I pick up the kids from school and Jack flops into the backseat of the truck and says "Mom, today our teacher did something REALLY bad." Great. Do I want to take this conversation any further? No. I'd rather bury my head in the sand. But we head down this path anyway. He goes on to explain that before pictures (yesterday was school picture day), the teacher pulled out a comb (singular) and combed EVERYONE'S hair with it. Okay, here's where we just breeze right past the fact that I've probably created a little monster with my germophobia issues and move directly to the REAL issue at hand - is she nuts? Certifiably insane? She's a TEACHER for crying out loud - fairly well-versed in the world of lice, one would think. Doesn't everyone know that you aren't supposed to share combs? Especially in a school, amongst kids?? I already had a problem with everyone using the same batter's helmet in baseball (don't worry, I didn't embarass my kids or my husband - kept my mouth shut on that one), but this is a comb! In school! Used on 23 (or more - who knows - ?) kids!! Uggh. I calmly resisted the urge to dump bleach on their heads and instead scrubbed their noggins with regular shampoo, which I know won't do any good if the damage was already done, but at this point it was all pyschological. I haven't heard of any outbreaks this year, so I'm sure we're in the clear, but the stupidity of it all just kills me. Hellllooooo - ????

Anyway, Happy Friday!

Out of Commission

Not much news coming out of this household as I'm currently trying to recover from some nasty virus that struck me down on Sunday afternoon - some weird stomach/fever thing that just keeps hanging on and hanging on . . . Today, day 3, I'm trying the "mind over matter" approach - forcing myself to get some stuff done around the house because I can't lay in bed one more minute! Uggh. I figure maybe if I decide I'm not going to be sick anymore, it will go away - ? Moms don't have TIME to be sick. Wish me luck.

Happy Fall!

I've prolonged it long enough - I'm finally accepting the fact that summer is really over. What brought on my new-found acceptance? Decorating for Halloween. It's easy to be in denial about the coming of fall and winter when you go camping all the way through September, but now that I have all the Halloween stuff out, I can finally accept that it's over and fall is here. :) I don't know why, but I love getting out our Halloween things - maybe because the boys love all our stuff and get into it so much. After today, though, I don't think anyone else feels the same way we do! (?) Today I weeded out some of the old stuff to give to Goodwill and then went on the hunt for some new October-ish stuff to add to our collection and found NOTHING. Nothing!! My favorite gift store in which I ALWAYS find adorable seasonal stuff (see above right) even failed me. I don't think I've ever walked out of there without buying ANYthing - today was a first. My search continued to 3 other stores, to no avail. Am I the only one who has fun with this time of year? I'm not giving up - Ebay, here I come!
Tonight we're all decked out in our Vikings gear for Monday night football and Mark is currently jumping all over the family room talking/yelling at the TV. It's always a workout for him to watch the Vikings - ?!? We're also "babysitting" some dear friends' girls - at least one of which WILL be our daughter-in-law someday. :) We're bringing arranged marriages to this country. Noah's already starry-eyed - he gets absolutely goofy when she's around - I'm almost embarrassed for him, he talks silly, acts silly, can't seem to calm down. Poor kid. Anyway, here they are, watching the game:

It didn't take long for Noah and Tori to lose interest and go play, but Jack's the die-hard, just like Daddy - focused for the duration . . . .Two peas in a pod!!