Halloween Night 2009

~ Happy Halloween!! ~

Halloween Eve

These are the pix taken Friday night after pizza. From the looks of my upper arms, I need to lay off said pizza. OMG! All the pictures were taken by either Caroline or John Sam, except the last couple of ones of my ghost jack-o-lantern. The battery-powered lights that sit inside the pumpkins are a stroke of genius! Tokyo isn't sure yet whether or not she likes the smell of pumpkin goop!

The Night Before Halloween Eve

Time for our annual pumpkin carving! John Sam ditched the scooper and just used his hands to help us empty out the biggest pumpkin so I could punch out the pattern.. Caroline dug right in also, and was so proud of her tiny jack-o-lantern. John Sam wanted to keep his little pumpkin the way it was. Crazy Bat Ears was right in the thick of it with her Halloween bandanna.

Trick or Treat!!

Homework

John Sam was complaining that he didn't want to do his homework and that he was sick of going to school. I asked him if he remembered what Dr. Carr (our pediatrician) had told him about how long he'd gone to school. Fifteen years, Dr. Carr told him. "It was like going through all my years of school two times," he said. I reminded John Sam how even if he didn't want to go now, he needed to learn as much as he could so he could earn money doing something he liked. Later on, I asked John Sam what he wanted to be when he gets older.

"Not a doctor, Mom."

Someday, my son is going to make his wife laugh so hard.

The Great Pumpkin

"It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" was on TV tonight. I love watching the holiday shows with the kids.

Have a great night! xoxo

Isaac Bashevis Singer

"When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer." - Isaac Bashevis Singer (Polish-born American author)

=) Love it!

Minutiae Musing Vol. 2

My last post was #400 - how about dat? Posted some pix to myspace, and I think Facebook? I'm thinking I have too many online gigs going. Twitter is a very distant third. Not getting the appeal of it, although I do think I've given it a good trial run.

A little bummed all the shows are repeats tonight.

The last 2 days at work (Friday and then today) were just awful. Everyone's gone from I'm grateful I have a job to Why the #$&% is that MY job? Negativity is palpable. I'm ready for this phase to move along. Any day now!

I hear the kids jumping on John Sam's bed. Yes, at 9:43 p.m. When I go in to tell them GO TO BED, it'll be the fourth time in 30 minutes. *sigh* Maybe if I go to bed, they will.

I was sneaking a look ahead on the calendar, and I noticed that on New Year's Eve this year, it will be a blue moon. I bet it'll be a crazy night! ;-0

Setting new records for high temperatures around these parts. I want another cold snap.

Today was a good day

I was absolutely enchanged with the movie Where The Wild Things Are. The beginning is a little intense, so I was glad the kids and I had talked beforehand about how Max was pretending because he was in trouble. It was a good length for me, seemed a little long for JS and CG. I don't think John Sam's teacher liked it, but a few times I definitely needed Puffs. I give it five stars! =)

The new pumpkin patch was all that--chatty ladies at the checkout notwithstanding. I felt kinda silly following the kids with the camera until I saw another lady with a tripod. Ha! It's hard to pick which few to post because I went a little crazy. I made one of the cutest ones as the new header. Do you like it?

We went to Borders where I thought they'd take my birthday gift card; they did not accept it. We got a book for John Sam's project, I got a yoga DVD (stop laughing right now!), and they got 2 packs of the stretchy animals. Then to the costume store, which we all didn't like because they had a fog machine going. It looked like a dance club except there was no alcohol in sight, ha. We got our accessories and beat it.










Is this last pumpkin weird looking or what?! Looks like a bunch of warts!! Ewwww!

Halloween is coming! But at this moment, we're getting ready to call it a night. xoxoxo

The Rush Begins

The end of the year rush, that is. October is a killer month for birthdays in this family (lol), and after Halloween gets here,the days go faster and faster. Multi-tasking helps us get more done in less time, we hope. Things included on this weekend's list: the pumpkin patch, Where the Wild Things Are, Barnes & Noble and/or the library, and the Halloween store for accessories!! One thing about being a photographer-wanna-bee is that I get to take lots of pictures of all activities, festivities and such. Pretty soon the dust will settle, and we'll all be saying Happy New Year!

Oh my!

Gas Prices!!

Why are gas prices going so high lately? Granny was here on Oct. 11 and it was $2.31. Yesterday when I filled up at the same station, it was $2.58. Today on the way home from work, it was $2.63.

32 cents in 11 days? What gives?

Minutiae Musing Vol. 1

Just discovered that my CSI and Mentalist didn't tape last Thursday. You remember, right? The day I was so smug and so slick making a card while recording them on the DVD recorder? I taped 2 hours of snow. The black & white kind that requires no shoveling and makes a lot more noise. Who knows what happened? All I do know is I'm out two episodes of my two favorite shows. Grrrr. I may have to see if I can view them online since it looks like tomorrow night's shows are repeats.

The stack of stuff I want to read is getting freakishly out of control. Yesterday I "found" three magazines that I bought and forgot about. One self-help and two scrapbooking. LOL

Some of my friends who haven't been blogging for a while are back in the saddle. I love going to the blogs I check daily. It's like my internet cup of coffee; I feel all current and inspired after I'm done reading and thinking about what others are writing.

This weekend I'm putting up some more curtains and doing a little bit of rearranging so as to improve the feng shui around here. Feeling a little like I'm doing more of what I have to and very little of what I want to--I'm out of balance. My rosebushes won't be speaking with me for a while if I don't give them some quality one-on-one time.

Looking forward to relaxing, playing, and recharging.

10.21.09 Mrs. Brenner

My mom lost a dear family friend today. Jo will be missed a lot because she was one of a kind! May her family and friends feel the support and comfort of those who loved her.

Tired - again!

Too.
Tired.
To.
Blog.


***snore***

Feliz Cumpleanos Dylan Tiger!

Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday, Dear Dylan-
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Have a great birthday, dude! Have a great day from Super Tia and Cousins! We love you very much and hope you love this cake we found for you!

Posing with Tokyo on a Cooler Day

This shot of the temperature was taken around 9:30 p.m. I know it's a little hard to see, so I'll tell you it says 58 degrees!




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When I was in middle school and wanted to take a picture of our dog C.B., I'd put his racquetball on top of the camera. I'd get perky ears and good eye contact! Today I revisted my old trick with a bit of a twist. I used Tokyo's rawhide bone to make her sit for a nanosecond or so to try to get a picture of the three of them. Took 3 photos and this one isn't bad, if I say so myself. xoxo

Welcome Autumn!

This was the temperature at 11:30 a.m. on 10 17 2009. (Insert extremely toothy smile right here!)

Excitement at Work

Right across the street from our office, a Jackson Hewitt commercial is being filmed. City "Mounty Police" are patrolling the block on beautiful brown horses!! The meter maid is driving around getting pissy because she can't give anybody a parking ticket. :)

It's so interesting to watch all the people doing their tasks. They've brought in fake bus stop signs, newspaper machines, mailbox, plants, and even a bus with fake details. I am totally jealous of the phat cameras I can see them using...... Right now I'm watching the actors practice their roles; one fellow is taking one of those huge fake checks onto the bus. I wonder how many "takes" they'll have to do.

I told my work friends that I wanted to park my car in front of the office so it might be seen in the background and have a chance to become famous.

I can't wait to see the finished commercial and see what footage of our street will appear on TV!

P.S.

It goes without saying that not one person in the office is doing any work at this moment.

Boss's Day

Boss's Day is tomorrow, and I felt like making a card. My scanner lid wouldn't close all the way due to pop-dots, lol, so it is kinda dark. Her favorite color is dark blue. I was able to accomplish this during Thursday night shows because I recorded them on my DVD player.

TGIF on the wakeup~



[Prism cardstock; Creative Memories pattenered paper; Chipboard letter from Target; Die cut from Making Memories; Flower from Prima; Jewel from Darice.]

Happy B'day Spot!

A birthday shout-out from Marge with lots of love to my friend Spot! xoxo

10 13 2009 Mish-mash

Rambling around tonight ;)

Made spaghetti and garlic cheese bread, hand washed the dishes, watched NCIS, paid a bill online, and after this blog post, I'm hoping to balance the checkbook (ugh).

I saw a great pumpkin patch in Winter Park today on my way to Chamberlain's to get John Sam's special magic millet bread. I think I may take them this weekend to get some pumpkins and photos. I'm thinking after last year's stuffed rooster caper that it might behoove us to find a new patch anyway.

I need to start looking for Caroline's costume. Thank goodness there are all kinds of witch costumes instead of just scary ones. I think we have John Sam's choice all taken care of.

My eyeglasses are getting settled in and it occurred to me today that they don't bother me as much as they first did. Progress!

Tomorrow night I have a card to finish and hope to get a photo to put up. So that'll be appearing no earlier than Saturday if my intention is to do it tomorrow.

I'll stop amazing everyone now with the excruciatingly interesting details of my Tuesday night!!

Quote from Rumi

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?" - Rumi, a Persian poet and philosopher

Touche!

Birthday Day #2 and Spiffy Room

We enjoyed another day of birthday celebrations with Granny Old! Perkins, Toys R Us, Florida Mall, Auntie Anne's Pretzels, JC Penney for a new purse, and then lunch/dinner at Red Lobster.

John Sam wanted Granny Old to see his "spiffy room" to prove he is in the Spiffy Room Club. Notice how neat the desk is!

I was also able to sneak in a manicure at the last minute at this great new salon; it's the best-kept secret in Orlando! Quite the assortment of products....

Neener, Neener

I got the Zhu-Zhu's,
I got the Zhu-Zhu's...

And you don't have yours,
And you don't have yours!

Neener, neener! =)

Also got the little exercise wheel and the uber-adorable race car! It just so happened today that while we were in Toys R Us, as we were waiting to check out, I looked over and saw about 15 of the pets on the shelf. I totally thought I was LOSING MY MIND, but picked one up and it was the real McCoy. I had to enlist Granny to distract and then shuffle the kids out in front of me so they wouldn't see me buying the contraband - lol. The cashier laughed when I put them on the counter; she said they had just put them out in the last 30 minutes (it was about 12:15), and she said by 1:00, they'd be gone and all the accessories, too.

I get to be Super Mommy and Super Tia on Christmas morning! I love it when that happens!

John Sam is NINE!

Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday to You,
Happy Birthday, dear John Sam,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

A special boy is turning nine years old - check out his very busy day: