Hallowe'en

Well, we don't even have a pumpkin yet. The fact that Christmas is in full swing at BOTH of my jobs has something to do with that. But there is no school today, so we shall see if something can get done about this huge gaffe in the holiday merry-making.

(I should tell you that we have celebrated, however. I was at school most of yesterday with the "Fall Experience". That phrase never fails to entertain me. Several concessions were made, as the temperature was something like 85. So hot cider became ice water, etc. There was also the fair fun complete with bunny and the annual Fall Festival at our school, where my shift was to ensure that children did not go back into the Haunted House after they exited. Also, we were able to watch half of "The Addams Family" together as a family, the other half to be viewed sometime this weekend. RIP Raul Julia! Angelica Houston - unparalleled! Christina Ricci - brilliant!)

With everyone's various activities in full swing, we also haven't finalized costumes. Hoping to remedy that tomorrow - here's my son's idea:

And my daughter continues her stretch of Costume As Social Commentary by producing her own "high stakes gambler" outfit. I cannot find an image to capture her homemade, painted, and glue gunned couture, but rest assured the point comes across.

Other ideas I had were:

World Cup fan: soccer jersey, Vuvuzela. TERRIFYING!


Tony Hayward: fake tan, Hawaiian shirt, blank expression. YIKES!





Wake School Board Majority: You need a blonde hottie, grey hair spray, padding, and the other one. AGGGH!!





Mark Zuckerburg: GAP sweatshirt, wads of cash hanging out of your pockets, blank expression. HORRORS!



Joan Holloway: red updo, gold pen necklace, baby bump. SCARY! (for her, anyway)




Ok, I've got to go buy this pumpkin.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Even the NY Times Loves Bravo!

Patti in the news!

I should add that I saw a recent episode of Millionaire Matchmaker all the way through - for the first time. I was gripped, as the millionaire PROPOSED!

But of course he's a politician wannabe (now a politician) and she's a Playboy model (unbeknownst to Patti, apparently) and things ended in a flurry of MySpace commentary and badmouthing.

Oh well. Mazel Tov, Shadchen!

A Pivotal Day

Our pastor talked about days that change you in his sermon (that I heard twice, per my usual) yesterday. The day you are married. The day you hear you have cancer. The day you decide that you are not going to be mad anymore. The day your first child is born.

Last night, my daughter couldn't sleep because I happened to drop this gem on her right before bedtime:

"Tomorrow our lives will change!"

Because today we got our bunny. She was purchased at the fair last week and we have been in contact with her breeder? grower? previous owner? for a bit. But today was the day. Daddy went and got her and...

....fell instantly in love. Those of you who know him should be surprised at this - I sure was! But he has had a teensy turnaround in recent days. Maybe he was worried ahead of time and had acceptance spread upon him. Last night, his answer to daughter's not sleeping was to give her a mantra to repeat to herself. It was, and I quote,

"Breathe in, 'I'm getting a bunny', breathe out, 'I love my bunny'".

I'm pausing here whilst you laugh.

Anyway, she's soft as hell. And interesting to watch and interact with. No biting and poop output is minimal. It's only day one, of course. But so far, so good. For today, at least, we are happy and full of joy and love. A day that has changed us.

To Sleep, Perchance

My sleep has been seriously disrupted. This is NOT what I expected from my children's older childhood/tween years.

My daughter suffers from....high metabolism? Combined with a bit of anxiety? With a dash of the common sleep problems associated with adolescence? We've determined that she has to exercise, heartily, every day. Otherwise, she has trouble going to sleep and then decides it is best to come wake me up to tell me this fact.

I met several parents at a sporting event recently who told me they give their children melatonin. But isn't that a hormone? We're not giving her melatonin.

So last night, after Daddy had been in charge all day, she comes in at 1:30 a.m. (ok, it was this morning) to tell us she can't sleep. I asked if she had had caffeine...and Daddy said, no, just a Vitamin Water.


Sigh.

We had baby and toddler nieces here this weekend. Their parents are very good with them and I really didn't hear them at all. But there was the one night that toddler fell out of her bed. I have to say, I was impressed with myself for hearing the thump and racing to her aide...until her mom showed up, from two flights of stairs, 2 seconds later! Remember the sonic hearing of the new mom? Yeah, my sis-in-law's like, BIONIC.

Between poor sweet niece's fall and worry about the fact that my boss was sick and I was thus in charge of a huge musical extravaganza at work, no sleep.

I'm not a great sleeper anyway. My friend Lynn, with whom I've shared a room at various conferences and getaways, is always making me jealous. Her small black-haired head flops down on a pillow at some point in the evening and NEVER. MOVES. AGAIN.


I do know that exercise helps me. And I'm back on supplements and am taking yoga back up for relaxation. What helps YOU sleep?

In a Pinch, I DJ

I just returned from Body Pump class. The instructor's iPod died during our first set.

"Who has an iPod?"

Um, me?

Um, all of my songs are explicit?

Oh wait, here's a playlist....with a bunch of Captain Underpants and Spongebob songs....KIDS!!! Grrr.

But: how about "HEY BABY"! (Squats commence!)


We move on to biceps and triceps...and I'm not sure I can find anything.

"Do you have any rap?"

Um, yes? BUT IT'S FILTHY!!

We settle on some "Empire State of Mind" and a couple of Rhianna songs.

I started getting creative at this point...and I tried some TV on the Radio for lunges. Yeah, that didn't go over as well. Then I found an old Madonna song (that I happen to love - unusual in that I like Madonna's singles but never her albums...this one was not a single) for abs.

And CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH to the SIDE!


Finally, cool down. I was thinking about it in my head the whole set of crunches. Dare I attempt Avett Brothers? Taylor Swift had already been rejected. There was the Mamma Mia! soundtrack to consider. I had U2's "No Line On the Horizon" - surely something soothing in that...

but ultimately I went back to my tried and true.

Reader, I went with REM. From Automatic for the People! And we all felt restored and renewed and fully stretched.