post halloween-halloween party

Here is a pic from our only grown up halloween party. Presenting famous dead people-see if you can guess who each person is:) We also had a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and a couple of exctinct caveman. The time change was a blessing this morning with my aching head after several rounds of tippy cups and a fun time was had by all!

in the words of homer simpson "Doh"

Uggggggg I spent most of the afternoon working on my fabulous idea for class-researching, finding quotes, notes-almost two typed pages of "things". I go to work on it just a few minutes ago and I DIDN'T SAVE IT.......

ever get a "sign"

So I am actually blogging because I am home with the older son. He woke up with a nasty looking eye (pink eye) so I rush to work to do sub plans and come home. By the time I get here it looks better-I hate staying home with pink eye, the kid is not sick-just contagious-really can he spread it around to others THAT much at school?
Anyway we head to the dr for drops. While we are the drs. this 20 something couple walks in ahead of me for labs. The girl is helping the guy walk and when the lab lady comes out they have to help him out of the chair-the lab tech knows him, he is a frequent flyer it looks like and very sick with something and pretty out of it. My heart immediately hurts for them and him. So while I am sitting there-annoyed-that I can't be at work, my kid is missing school-when he missed a day last week a thought comes a "sign" maybe...Go home, relax for the day-don't be annoyed at something so small and trivial, and relflect on how good life really is TODAY.

Whew, confernces over and done

So the fall conferences are over and done with and as usual no big surprises and the actual process did not deserve the anxiety I gave it. Big A got to lead his own conference and that was interesting. He was NERVOUS but did a great job, he is starting to see the connection between his effort and responsibility for learning but still not the most organized or best listener. His teacher is a blessing. Q's conference was OK, I refuse to throw fellow peers under the bus so won't. He of course was advanced in math so here I am on the end of instead of helping my struggling child- I have to think of how to challenge my advanced child-it is just as much of a quandry.
What is the funniest part is BOTH boys were needing improvement in the area of talking and being TOO social. This is such an oxymoron for me. My grade school years were full of painful shyness, few friends and a true wallflower. Not a social butterfly by any means (of course making up for it now-must be a late bloomer) it is funny how people who know me now in this phase of my life are surprised.

On another not the one characteristic my oldest son inhererited is my emotional sensitivity for good and bad. He feels things so deeply that sometimes it hurts me just to watch because I know EXACTLY how he feels and is analyzing the situation. We had a disagreement and Hubby gave him a guilt trip. He comes out to say "can we talk" so we do. He worries about when he gets angry and being mad and that he is a bad person. WOW it is like talking to a mirror. So I LISTEN and say the only thing I can think of. We are human-we get scared, sad, happy, nervous and mad-even at the people we love-it is how we fix the problem that counts. The people we love the most sometimes are on the recieving end of the worst and best of us. That God made us a family for a reason because he knows what he is doing (because sometimes I don't have a flippin clue). And coming to talk to the person you love is sometimes all you can do...

so thank you big guy for coming to talk to me and I hope you always do.

a greener me

So I am not the best "green" person out there. I recycle but sometimes (okay most of the time) don't reuse plastic water bottles. And I am a plastic grocery sack girl all the way-they work great for the litter box. But today I am turning over a green leaf. I bought these cool bags to use and REUSE from this really cool catalog. NOW I just have to not leave the damn things on the car seat when I go to the grocery store!

Best part about going green is I rewarded myself with a really cool t-shirt I just had to have.

Facebook??

Ok, so I am new to this blogging thing and along comes facebook. I have been hearing the buzz and of course my brave friends Karen and Chris hop on the facebook bandwagon and then all of a sudden I see Suree up there. SO I get on JUST so I can be curious and now I am up there *sigh*

I don't have time for facebook and I have to admit it kind of creeps me out. I think Carey had mentioned about not wanting to cyber hug-I would have to agree. I think I will just hang out here in blog world:)

Ok, back to the homework grind.

The prarie

This post could be long so I will try to condense it. I went pheasant hunting for the first time with my family. Hubby and I did lots of walking while the boys followed and then got bored and scoured hay bales for caterpillars. It was a beautiful day on the prarie, warm, blue and no wind. It was also a great day to connect with hubby. We hunted at his grandma's place near Philip. She is 90 something and not doing very well. She lives in the same house she did 70 years ago and the place is kind of a wreck. It is hard for him to see his grandma and the place he grew up at this way. As we walked (and walked) he would just mention little snippets of how he shot a badger here, his grandma hunting with him here and so on. I could tell the day was like a walk down memory lane which he doesn't often do. As he cleaned birds and talked to his grandma I rambled around the place and took tons of pics, not great ones but just something to remember the place. It was tranquil and quiet and almost like it would have seemed in the homestead days. I can't wait to go back out again. The pheasant hunting stories and the ones I missed will be for another day.

worse than the dentist

So I have to agree with Karen getting my teeth cleaned is way up there with things I really hate to do. Something that comes in a close second is BUYING JEANS. I hate spending money on expensive jeans-which after buying a pair at the Gap that I love-have found it does make a difference. More then the money I hate TRYING on jeans-even on a good day. I hate the 3 inch rise made for 15 year olds that allows the muffin top to really spill over, the boot cut tight thigh that makes my thighs look like hams and the low rise in the back that shows WAY too much. The trying on part is exhausting-I always leave wishing I had a better diet and didn't get lazy with the exercise and hadn't inherited child bearing hips. I am too scared to try buying jeans online so that is out.

So I am sitting here choosing between two evils-homework or jeans-which I am in the "mood" to shop for but antipate a long couple of hours. Hmmmmmmm

Pie recipe just for Karen

1 egg
8 oz sour cream (I use light)
3/4 C sugar
2 T flour
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
4 C chopped apples-tart
1 unbaked pie crust
1/2 C flour
1/3 C packed brown sugar
2 T butter

Mix together egg, sour cream, sugar, flour and vanilla stir in apples
Pour into crust-cover crust edges with foil
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes
Combine flour and brown sugar-cut in butter and sprinkle over pie
Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes

It is really yummy warm and cold the next day for breakfast:)

release

Definition of release:

Act of freeing or state of being freed

So tonight half my family is gone-Hubby and older son are off on a pheasant hunting trip so just myself and Q are home.

I had some friends over, not my bestest friends-almost bestest and mostly work related but very good friends. Each friend knows me in a different way and came at different times so I had time alone with each one to visit, share and try to be a good listener (I am always a work on progress in that area:). Then we were all together and laughed our asses off. I love laughter, love to hear laughter and to make people laugh with sarcasm, humor, or any means necessary.

The point is the time I have with friends-all kinds of friends is always the BEST. Not one little worry crosses my mind and I laugh and RELEASE all the anxieties and stresses that I let build up and know that I am not so weird-others have those same thoughts and experiences. It is almost zen like. Oh yeah a couple glasses of wine (or a bottle) will make you use that word-ZEN-. There is nothing like womanhood and those that share it with you to make you feel OKAY and not alone.

Okay back to reality to watch a movie in bed with younger son-the second best part of half my family out hunting.

Christmas pic tradition

So I drug my family out on Sunday morning for the annual Christmas card picture. Last year was easy with pics from our trip. After sending my friend who takes them to Spearfish by mistake we got them done this weekend. We get some good ones along with goofy boy ones. Nothing like a camera to bring out the annoying boy language and behavior, hubby is thankful I only make us do it once a year:)

Pie day

Hubby and I are getting into the habit of cooking together on Sunday or Saturday. Not the easy quick stuff during the week, but the more time consuming recipes. Tonights specialty is Chicago style deep dish sausage and meatball pizza-complete with homemade crust and sauce. My job was the sour cream-apple pie (with streusal on top). Hmmmm I think I will go to bed 10lbs heavier:)