Howdy-do

I'm enjoying my "oap-meal" on this chilly morning. That's what AJ calls it. He eats it nearly every day and now, so do I! I call it "cholesterol-begone" and I'm just about sick of it already. But guess what? I'm down a pound and a half this week! So rock on, Mr. Quaker.

I really need to be calling a client about his Domain Keys and SPF record, and sending a couple of jobs over to production for some (more) color correction, but... eh. Not interested.

My babies are all dressed up and ready to participate in the Halloween parade at school (KT) and the pre-K field trip to a retirement home (AJ). They'll sing Halloween songs and everything! DH is curious what kind of candy he'll bring home from there. Ha. We made Cocoa Krispies Treats for his class party.

The big news around here is that yesterday, KT crawled for real, for the first time. :) She had become a master scooter/roller but now she has the knees coordinated. We are mobile! Amazing how an antibiotic turns her around immediately, too. She's like a different child now that she's on the mend from this cold/ear infection.

I haven't voted yet, and I'm dreading it. The lines for early voting -- I pass an early-voting place on my way to work every day -- have been out the door and around the block. People are parking a half-mile away and walking uphill to stand in those lines for hours. The thought of doing that to check one tiny box and Christmas-tree the rest of the ballot makes me want to gouge my eyes. I guess I have to, though. (I won't really Christmas-tree it.)

I'm feeling more optimistic than earlier in the week, but still a little bit in a funk. The Office and 30 Rock helped some. Things I'm looking forward to this weekend:

• obviously, trick or treating tonight in our friends' neighborhood


• going through the candy bucket after a certain someone has gone to bed


• lunch Saturday at Einstein's Bagels with a friend (I'm happier about the lunch than the friend, but still)


• haircuts for me and for AJ


• menu planning and grocery shopping (does that make me weird?)


• finishing my book... I hope


• dinner out somewhere, perhaps, if the kids are in a good mood

What about you?

Hamster wheel

Lately it feels like we're just being chewed on by this never-ending machine -- DH and I, the parents. We clock in, 5:30 am, and get to pounding out our day. Feed kids, feed dog, dress kids, dress selves, gather up stuff, forget stuff, pound, pound, pound, out the door, drive. Kids: school. Barely time to ponder on that fact, just set them down and GO, on to the next classroom. Drive, drive, drive. Fill up with gas. Work. Drive again. Dinner. TV. Drinks. Napkins. Oh, don't forget to hug the kids once in a while, or engage with them once in a while (now I'm tearing up as I type). Eat. Plead with kid to eat. Bath. Bed. Make bottles. Start over. Even the weekends sometimes feel this hurried. Even when we sit on the couch, we know it's just another half-hour until we have to go somewhere or feed someone.

Do we communicate? Yeah, but not well. I'm snippy and defensive. He's quiet. We coo at the baby and hope some of the love for her and her brother (when he's being sweet) runs off the sides and seeps into each other, too. We gripe at him for being four, and so, so trying. The hamster wheel spits us out, creaks a little back and forth while we sleep, then sucks us back in for another round, another day.

Blah-gging (Edited)

We had a busy, busy weekend. You?

Ours included the school's Fall Festival, a trip to the nursery for our pumpkin (which rolled around in the backseat of my car during the commute this morning -- greaaaat), a Publix run for essentials (formula, baby food, oatmeal, bananas, and Pop Tarts), and a Sunday School lesson in which I failed to even mention All Saints' Day, but did engage the kids with a rousing game of "Dear St. Anthony, please look around...", with a chocolate prize of course.

I'm really trying to be attentive and grateful about everything - each moment, each memory. It's a little hard. I feel like I've been in a bad mood for 3 weeks.

My feelings about blogging, especially, have been up and down all last week and over the weekend. I know we all get this way from time to time. Feeling that it's trite and narciss, narcisiss- terribly selfish to Whine Online (™! I just coined that!) when there are people in the world out there actually suffering. Feeling that I can't possibly say anything here that hasn't already been said by someone else, and better. Blah, blah, blah. (Aside: AJ has taken to saying "Blah, blah, blah," while he's performing little tasks like cleaning up, or if he's telling himself a story, and it cracks me up.) So anyway, forgive me if posting is dry around here for a while. I'm just in the funk.

We all have colds; KT baby's must be related to teething, but I'm hoping she doesn't develop her 2nd ear infection. Oog. A friend just had tubes put in his son's ears and I know that helps kids but I really don't want to have to go down that road. (See? You can tell I'm all negative right now, that I'm already diagnosing her with chronic ear infections.)

Traffic was really crappy this morning.

The Fall Festival was really fun, I think, for AJ. I forgot to say that. He and his daddy stayed for "Movie Night Under the Stars." It was too cold for that event, of course, but I know AJ had a good time. Oh, also, I was "asked out" by one of the other moms! Well, not really -- but AJ was invited to a playdate. I thought it was sweet because the mom specified that her son is an only child. Like she needed to justify asking AJ over. I was all, "You're the first person in HISTORY to invite us to a real playdate, I love you." Heh. Hope I didn't scare her away.

EDITED TO ADD: Not 30 minutes after hitting publish, I got my sorry butt up off my chair and took a 25-min walk down the long, winding drive on which sits my gray cinder-block of an office building. It was actually quite pretty (trees alongside the road, enormous blue sky above), and envigorating, what with the 20-mile-an-hour gusts we're having here today. And guess what? I felt better.

I was going to wait a whole week to post that, but I thought you should know in case you're feeling the blahs: Take a walk.

Dispatch from trenches

Several things I'm fretting over -- no good time to reflect or even type nice sentences.

Baskets to be auctioned for this weekend's Fall Festival at school. Try on and alter Halloween costumes. Iron a shirt that's been in laundry room for 2 weeks so I have something to wear tomorrow (5 days a week = need more clothes all of a sudden). Retreive winter clothes from basement and pray they fit.

Watch what I eat. Figure out when, each day, to fit in exercise. (I so don't want to have to regiment my week this way but I feel like it's the only way I'll stick to it.)

Figure out when and where to vote, early if possible. Don't want to wait 'til Nov 4th but the way it's looking with 2-hour LINES for early voting, Nov 4th might actually be a breeze. Find time to read about all the local candidates... ha, yeah right...

Pay bills some night this week after dinner? Also, do laundry (load of towels is critical). Maybe clean a bathroom. Oh, the kids' bath toys and KT's humidifier NEED to be rinsed/sanitized. Oogh.

Figure out if we're going to fly, drive, or rent a car for our Disney trip in February '09. Figure out what parks we want to visit and how to celebrate KT baby's 1st birthday while we're there! Yipes. Had totally forgotten about this. Excited about the trip, though.

Christmas shopping, holy mike.

Finish the two Mommy Club books I'm now behind on, and get ready for my turn to host next month. (It's not really "Book Club" any more, who are we kidding?) Figure out what to serve. (Had so much nice conversation last night with my girlfriends.)

Try not to worry about... lots of stuff. Good gracious, I'm grateful for a husband who's helpful, kind, and here in town. I don't know how you guys with traveling husbands do it.

That is all.

Tuesday Trade: Useful Tips

In lieu of a recipe today (I am running out of recipes!), I thought I would share a few ideas for making things last longer.

...when I make tacos using 1 lb of ground beef: We never eat all the beef. Nor do we finish all the tiny bits of tomato that I painstakingly dice up for garnish. AND, taco shells don't reheat, so I try not to bake more than I need for that night. So I take the leftover fillings (minus lettuce) and make simple burritos to freeze -- meat, cheese, salsa, tomato. They're great to take for lunch at the office. (Tortillas are something I always keep on hand; don't you?)

...when I make a casserole: I will put 1 or 2 lunches worth in the fridge as leftovers, but who are we kidding? We're not going to eat this 4 days in a row. Make it a habit to freeze at least half of your leftovers immediately, in single-serv portions if you can. Reheat for lunch. You'll throw away less.

...when I drink Crystal Light: I always dilute mine by half, with water. We go through a metric ton of Crystal Light peach tea mix around here, and that stuff is not cheap. I feel like I can sacrifice half the flavor, no biggie, to make it last a little longer.

...when we make anything rice-y, from a box or otherwise (as we do quite often), we've started using additional plain rice to stretch it out. This also helps us feed the picky boy-child, who prefers more rice than flavor anyway, and it usually means we get 2 leftover lunches out of the meal instead of just one. OBVS I'll be making brown rice now since I Have High Cholesterol, Woe Is Me... ;)

...when we buy deli meat for sandwiches: We have to USE that stuff or it goes bad every time. We had sandwiches one night last week for dinner. I did them "roll-up" style (tortillas, again!). I just don't want to throw out that ham and turkey, which is what we've historically had to do. Sandwiches for lunch every day is okay in theory, but in practice we just don't like them enough to have them every day. But dinner sammies seem... I don't know, youthful or bohemian or something.

...when I make coffee: I've started putting just a splash of flavored creamer in, and using milk to get it to my desired creaminess. Not that milk is cheap, but it's probably cheaper than flavored creamer! Also, I don't want to throw out expensive milk, which sometimes goes bad at our house because we're not milk lovers.

This isn't for cooking, but ...when I run the dishwasher: I resist the temptation to put detergent in the "optional" open cup, too. You know, how the dishwasher has one cup with a little "door" and another cup for if you want to begin the soaping with the first rinse? Just resist! You double the life of your bottle/box of detergent. One soap cycle is plenty in a good dishwasher!

If you have any good tips like these, please share. Maybe this stuff is obvious but I think we're being much more conscientious lately.

Sorry

I'm feeling bad for getting so potty mouthed emotional in my previous post, but you guys are great, making me feel better.

But I swear, sitting there, the tech handing me a paper with my numbers written on it (because of privacy, you know, she couldn't say them out loud).... it felt like getting back an important exam with a big fat (har) D- on the top.

And one thing I could never handle in school (and am not used to) was bad grades. I know I'm not in excellent shape, I've known I was a little overweight, and that I'm genetically predisposed... but I didn't think my actual health was in "danger" yet. And high numbers before 35 feels like danger.

Anyway, it's not as terrible as I'd made it out to be, I guess. My Mom suggested fish oil capsules, I'll eat some oatmeal, get exercising (I was going to have to re-figure that schedule, anyway, for work), and get better numbers next year.

Heart-y congratulations to me. Not.

This morning is good news/bad news about my health and weight-loss efforts.

My pleasant little bathroom scale at home, at 5:49 am, told me, "Congratulations, el-e-e! You are whipping your butt into shape one little baby step at a time. Down a half-pound! Good on you! Now get out there and face your day. You're doing it the right way."

I like that scale. He's friendly.

Then I came to the office, where Concentra Medical Services is conducting Health Screenings today so that we can tell the insurance people that we're aware we ... have health. Or something. The screenings have nothing to do with much of anything, but we get a pre-determined dollar amount "knocked off our premium" if we fill in these numbers: height, weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

I should have made up numbers. The ones I got were not friendly.

I usually skate by in the cholesterol department with a 175-ish total score. Not today.

You know what? I am going to tell you my numbers. I am going to be brave.

My LDL.... 125 (should be under 100!)
My HDL.... 38 (should be at least 50, ideally greater than 60!)
My total cholesterol... 196 (under 200 is okay)
My triglycerides... 196 (should be 50 to 150!)
My BP... somewhat high today at 124/82

GOOD G*DAMN.

I'm sorry but that is the ONLY word that comes to mind. I *NEVER* have high blood pressure. In fact, doctors are usually amazed at how GOOD my BP is. What. Thehell. I am wondering how much of this is fluke-y and how much is real. Oh, who am I kidding, it's likely all real. Some of it might be genes -- my little 92-pound grandmother had cholesterol over 200, I think -- but a lot of it is BUTTER. And CHEDDAR. And WHITE BREAD and BACON.

So. Let me just say again... Damn.

Jillian Michaels, here I come.
New supportive shoes, here I come.
5:15 am, here I effing come.
Mister Quaker Oatmeal guy, here I come.
V-8 low-sodium (gag), here I come.
Pickles and water, here I come. (little joke with my Mom)
WeightWatchers vegetable soup, here I come.
Skinny latte (tall), here I come. Once in a blue moon as a much-needed treat.

Goodbye, 1 piece of chocolate after dinner. (Okay, 2.)
Goodbye, ice cream.
Goodbye, cheddar cheese.
Goodbye, sour cream (lite).
Goodbye, Squeeze Parkay convenience.
Goodbye, cookies.
Goodbye, regular pasta.
Goodbye, loaded potato soup.
Goodbye, white rice all the time because it's economical -- too bad!

Should be loads of fun. I can't wait to get down to business. <--- (sarcasm.)

Quelque fois (Sometimes)

Jess asked yesterday, "What goes through your head sometimes?"

And I thought, The House on Southwestern.

No one will understand that but my Mom and my Sis, but I'll explain for you.

When I was about 11, my parents were considering a big move from our small town in Texas to someplace larger. It might have been Dallas -- my grandparents lived there. It ended up being Florida, but in the meantime we casually drooled over walked through a couple of houses in University Park*, right near Grandmother and Granddaddy's. There was one, on Southwestern Boulevard, that I LOVED. I guess I'd never looked at an empty, brand-new house before, with any kind of idea that I might move into it. This one had a pretty staircase in the foyer -- something our house, a ranch-style, didn't have. It had a big "multi-purpose" room upstairs, and a cedar linen closet. It had a tiny backyard, but a bright kitchen with white cabinets. I remember how the light felt in that kitchen, that day. We might have walked through it twice. I think it had just been built and therefore wasn't locked, but I may be wrong about that. I don't remember any realtor taking us there.

Anyway, images of being in this house pop into my mind all the time lately, and have done so, as long as I can remember since then. Just the tiniest, fleeting thoughts, while I'm bathing the kids, or driving to work. I don't dwell on them; I just think, "Oh, the house on Southwestern," and continue doing whatever I'm doing. It's not like I am really sad that we didn't get to move there -- I'm not. It really wasn't even a significant possibility, I don't think -- we mostly looked at houses in Dallas for fun, I think. (I remember The House on Colgate, too.) But I wonder why being in that house made such an indelible impression on my mind? What about it has caused it to stay with me all these years?

*Mom, Sis, and anyone -- have you played with Google Maps lately? Check out Street View! You can actually WALK down the street that you search. I found my own house, Grandmother's old house right there in Dallas, DH parents' house...I tried to find the actual House on S'western, but didn't see one that looked familiar. Just search any address. Super fun. Not every address has a "street view" yet, but I'm sure they're working on it!

Quelque choses (Some things)

I haven't had a good blog-thought in ages. Thank goodness for the Tuesday recipes thing and for my little job thing or I'd have been a blank page for 2 weeks straight. ENTER: The Six Random Things Meme. Woo hoo! Everybody's doing it, most recently Mandy, who tagged you, me and everyone.

I am supposed to share 6 random things about myself that I have never shared before, which is funny because I've done variations of this meme about eleventy times already. Never mind... Here you are:


1. I do that thing where I twist my body around both ways to crack my spine at least once a day, if not more. I especially like it when they tell me to do this in yoga cool-down sessions, because it makes me feel like it won't actually cause arthritis. Like it may even be GOOD for me. I also crack my toes.

2. Every "month" I get one zit. Usually a prominent place on my forehead or face. It's just delightful. This week, for some other, unknown reason, I have three. GAWD. (You're welcome!)

3. I'm definitely a design snob, having been in the design/print industry this many years. My favorite fonts are sans-serif ones like Helvetica Condensed, Arial Narrow, Gil Sans Light, Tahoma. I really dislike serif fonts. Especially on blogs. (Except on yours... On yours they're pretty.)

4. We had tuna casserole for dinner last night. Mmmm. One of my favorites.

5. Yesterday at work, I was supposed to make a phone call to someone my coworkers and I would like to meet/work with. This person is sort-of a rock star in his field (at least I think of him as one -- entrepreneur, very smart, finger on the pulse, etc.). I emailed him first, then waited and waited before I placed the call... because I was hoping my manager would leave for the day and NOT HEAR ME make the call. We all share this office space and I don't know, I just didn't want him listening in.

6. I am the "stereotypical male" in our household; I often leave my nightshirt/underwear on the floor of the bathroom after I shower and get dressed. Isn't that HORRIBLE? I was reading a blog the other day wherein the wife wrote a letter to her husband saying "COULD YOU PLEASE just pick up your underwear? Is that so hard??" ...and I was mortified. Sorry, DH. I can't BELIEVE I've done this for so long. I'll try to do better.

Tuesday Trade: more from Pancho (or someone similarly named)

I have been loving Maryb's "Pancho's Chicken." I've made it twice now. Yum! Last night I gorged myself. All within my daily calorie limit, I think, but MAN, was I full afterwards. I guess I ate slowly enough to really feel the Full.

Here's my recipe for today, and it's for the crock pot. It's from this cook book, for which I refuse to type the title here on my (perfect) blog, because it is grammatically incorrect. (FEWER!!) Also, it's not a classic "throw everything in and turn it on" crock-pot recipe. You have to use the stove. I know! THE HORRIBLE STOVE! But it's not too hard.

Tamale Casserole

1 lb. lean ground beef (sorry, Sis!)
1 c. chopped onion
1 can (14.5 oz) chunky tomatoes, drained
1 can (4 oz) diced/chopped green chiles
8 (6-inch) soft corn tortillas
2 cups (8 oz) Cheddar cheese, shredded

Brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Add tomatoes and green chiles and heat through.

Tear 4 of the tortillas into bite-size pieces and place in a sprayed slow cooker. Add half of the meat mixture; then sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat, ending with cheese. Cover and cook on LOW 2 to 2.5 hours. Makes 4 generous servings. Garnish with salsa and serve* with some sort of vegetable/salad. Seriously, you need your vegetables, people.


*I made a note in the margin: Add salt.

So, looking straight ahead

The meeting was not, as I'd feared, about my performance or about any sort of layoff. Whew. Thanks for your votes of confidence. It was about shifting my responsibilities (again) within the company, which is never really a *bad* thing, just a *different* thing. It's going to mean, in the short-term (I'm covering an additional position that Corporate won't let us fill in These Uncertain Economic Times), that I won't get to work from home anymore. Sigh. This is a bummer. Thankfully it's not a deal-breaker, since the kids are both in daycare 5 days a week already. Those 2 days at home have been a real convenience and blessing to me, allowing me to actually DO laundry or take a 15 minute vacuuming break, but they aren't critical to our family operations or bottom line. Helpful, yes. Green, yes. (Hello, company, I'll be pumping 2 more days' worth of junk into the area's smog, thanks.) Critical? I guess not. My manager says it's a temporary thing. I'm not sure I believe him on that.

I'm still ironing out a few details of how it's all going to work, and honestly, additional responsibility makes me more marketable for the next time they might call an unexpected meeting, the outcome of which might not be so good. Blah blah glass half full. We never know in this job market, and it's best to be prepared. I have mixed feelings overall, but am glad to still have a paycheck. Perhaps with this extra stuff I can more easily lobby to increase said paycheck at my next review.

Don't look down

I've been concentrating an awful lot on our floors lately, since I seem to spend a lot of time down there. It's the easiest place to go when AJ wants to play something, usually "Alien Creation Chamber," and KT wants to practice her army crawl. I pour out some soft blocks on one side of me and some alien parts on the other side, and let the kids go to work.

Safe to say I will never be like someone I know who amazes me by vacuuming every day, or at least every other day. But I would LIKE to have floors that clean, seeing as how we roll around on them so much. I just vacuumed but it won't last long.

*****WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST to announce... my manager just asked me to meet with him tomorrow morning 30 minutes before our regular weekly staff meeting. He "has something he wants to discuss with me." Panic panic panic WHAT COULD IT BE?? Am I in trouble? Will I be extremely nervous and worry about this all day? Will I lose my job less than 24 hours from now? Will I be privy to some top-secret work-related information? What could take 30 minutes to discuss? Will I be given a very substantial and unexpected raise and promotion?? Tune in tomorrow... cue the foreboding and dread*****

Giving the economy a caboost

Nobody's sick at my house, whew. My DH jokingly accused me of wishing sickness upon us in that last post. Not so... I'm just feeling nervous/stressy about a lot of things and Baby catching a dread disease was one of them, yesterday.

Retail therapy helps. I found some BARGAINS at The Children's Place today, and went ahead and did my civic duty, injecting forty-one whole dollars into our economy. You're welcome. Got this cute dress:
... and this one,
both for less than $7.00 which feels extremely good to me. Also found some other small things like long-sleeve t-shirts and one shirt for AJ. (He's plenty clothed, as you know, with hand-me-downs from cousin Grant, who has impeccable taste and an eye for fashion.)

Also did $75-worth of destressing at Snapfish's gift shop. Boosted the economy AND got some Christmas gifts taken care of... double win!

The library was equally fun. I think I made a good suggestion for Book Club -- something different from our normal fare -- and I'm jazzed about libraries in general again. I've got to get AJ over there with me at some point. Maybe when we take these back -- I got him a few new picture books, too, of course. I think his class goes on a field trip there sometime during the school year, but I want him to go there with Mama and hold my hand while he discovers the treasures of so many (free) books. We have really enjoyed some new books my Mom sent this week, especially a Halloween I Spy picture book. It's given us 2 half-hour sessions of focused, fun family time, and we're only 2/3 finished with it! LOVE.

I don't have anything profound to share. I feel like I should. I also feel like I should be watching the news all the time, when I'm not wringing my hands about the news. That's why it was nice to watch Project Runway last night, and why I'd like to watch Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend (can you believe I still haven't seen all of #2, or any of #3?). Something completely unrelated to the election or the economy, and completely frivolous.

Refreshingly...

...politics free today. (Like Swistle!)

I will say this, as my only report on last night's debate: I fell asleep.

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Tomorrow I'm planning to go to the library to pick up Madeleine L'Engle's The Small Rain for Book Club. I'm not buying it. Books have come off the "essential purchase" list, and even the "it's okay, books are small" justification list. Fourteen dollars is more money than it used to be, at least when it's still inside my wallet.

I am excited - I haven't been to a library in a long time.

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The pediatrician's office is falling in love with us because we give them 25 dollars two, maybe three times a week these days. Just for fun! Last week it was for the privilege of sitting in their exam room for 45 minutes so the doctor could come in right before 5:00 to declare KT baby ear-infection-free. He breezed in and out of there so fast I barely saw his face. At that point she WAS still coughing and had a very runny nose -- I wanted to ask him a few questions -- but he disappeared before I could. I took him at his word and left with my fingers crossed. (I think she's getting better. I think.)

Who knew I'd be back there 4 days later for darling AJ's adventure of the week: sticking something in his ear "just to see what would happen." He saw what happened, alright. A nice metal forceps AND a warm earwash later, and I don't think he'll be sticking paper OR crumbs anywhere but his pockets from now on (he'd better not)! Poor kid screamed his little head off during the ear wash. I couldn't blame him -- when I go swimming and my ear fills with water accidentally, I jump around and shake my head and jiggle my BRAIN until that water drips back out. I HATE having water in my ears.

But he deserved it.

Today there's a sign on the Infant 2 door saying "A case of hand-foot-mouth disease has been reported in this classroom," so I'm expecting to see my darling pediatrician again real soon despite wiping KT baby down every time I get a chance. I know they'll swoon when I walk in the door. Easy money, baby.

Not saying anything one way or the other

I keep searching online, wanting to know what people thought about the VP debate. I've read a few articles, blog posts. Probably what I really want to determine, though, is what *I* thought about the debate. It was historic for me, but only because I managed to watch the entire thing and not fall asleep (for longer than 5 minutes during the Sudan/Afghanistan part). Ha. Mostly I thought it was the same old typical political schlock, with a bit of "I'll charm 'em" talk thrown in from Palin, which is her deal. I didn't think either one of them said anything we hadn't heard before, and both of them likely spoke some untruths.

I found it funny the couple of times they "agreed" on something -- the gay marriage issue, when Ifill said "Good, you agree." and the sworn-to-silence audience couldn't help laughing. And then that they "both love Israel." Heh. And I liked when Biden said "I love him," referring to McCain. I, myself, loved Palin's suit and the highlights in her hair. And I hope no one will take that as me bashing her OR being a dumb-ass who is voting for or against gender alone. Because I'm not, I'm just observing.

(Here's stating the obvious:) If we could have Tivo'd it, watched about 10 minutes, and then rewound to start over, we would have made it a drinking game. Anytime Palin said the word, "Maverick..." or mispronounced "Nu-cue-lar..."

DRINK!

(What is it with that word, by the way?!? NUCLEAR. New-Clear. How hard is it? Aaaghggh.)

Anytime Biden started his answer with the word "Look," or added a superfluous "fundamental..."

DRINK!

It could go on and on and we'd all have been completely wasted by the end.

I thought the NBC commentator got it just right, though, that both of them exceeded expectations. Palin spoke to the people, as one of the (lowly) people, and that was what she needed to do, not let herself get ruffled as she has by the bright lights and fast-talking, hard-pressing media. And I actually think Biden did well on that front, too, aligning himself with regular people who've had hardship in their lives. I thought he was well spoken and I think others have said this, HE might appeal to more people as the Presidential nominee than smooth-talker Barack. (And I'm sorry, yes, he's a GOOD speaker, but he's also Reeeeel Smmoooth. Trained in speaking is what I mean.)

Anyway, I'm pretty much your classic swing-voter according to this, and although my mom and dad will cringe to hear it, I'm still not absolutely sure whom to vote for. I'm pretty sure, but not absolutely. I'm not convinced my vote will even matter in Georgia, although this year we might have a more interesting electorate than we usually do.

I don't know. I never know about politics. Moving on.

Since it's October, we finally opened the Halloween CD my Mom brought a couple of weeks ago, and AJ's taken it to school 2 days in a row (they listen to music while eating breakfast and at the end of the day). He LOVES the songs "Ghostbusters," and "I Want Candy," which are, of course, fun for us grownups too. And he LIKES, but gets SCARED, listening to the "Spooky Sounds" portion of the CD. It has tracks like "Evening in the Dark Forest," "Midnight at a Cemetery," and "Dr. Frankenstein's Laboratory," complete with creaky door effects, hooting owls, and faraway bell-tolling. Spooooooky. He wants me to play those tracks, but then 30 seconds into them, he says, "Turn it off, Mommy! I'm scared!" Hee hee hee. I think he really LIKES getting scared like that, you know, the thrill we all have about non-threatening scary things. :)


(Someone's going to see that last sentence as a subtle reference, since everyone's referring to either Palin or Obama as "scary" in the political rhetoric going around. But it was just coincidence that I wrote about both those things today... really.)

Scent of a woman

I pulled out the remainder of my Bath and Body Works "Sensual Amber" lotion a few weeks ago, because it's a "fall" scent in my mind. And I slathered it on this morning, because boy, have my arms and elbows been dry.

So I smell nice today. Of course, KT zinged me right before we left the house, so every once in a while, I get a little whiff of eau de baby spit-up from my right shoulder.

Excellent mix.