Spooky thoughts...

Very poorly titled post, as none of these thoughts are really spooky. But it is Halloween, and in lieu of a super slutty costume, you get a not-very-Halloween-themed post.

I am a terrible mother, at least if "not buying Halloween costumes for the girls" qualifies. I sort of maybe kind of intended to, but in the end they don't care, they won't keep it on, and I didn't even get motivated enough. They can hate me when they are older;-)

The Boy got back safe and sound on Friday, and I survived my entire week alone with the girls:-) It was much less stressful than I had been anticipating, too, which is obviously good news. And yes, I should probably not be as worried about having them all to myself as I am...but whatever. The Boy is a better parent than me, I am comofortable with that.

OK...snow? What the Fuck? There are places in the state that are still without power two days after an OCTOBER SNOWSTORM! Three weeks ago it was 80 degrees, and the leaves haven't really even changed colors yet. But Mother Nature sees no problem in rolling in the freezing weather and a freaking blizzard. Thankfully (for me) there was little snow in the city, but people to the west and north have tons of damage and massive power outages.

I'm seriously hoping that this in not a harbinger of a very, very tough winter...

More odds and ends

A couple of things (I feel like I have skipped around a lot lately...but bear with me).

First of all, it looks like Tinkerbelle is going to come for Thanksgiving, which is awesome! I haven't seen her in what seems like forever. She was supposed to come sometime this fall, but it never worked out so we are way overdue for a visit. In talking with her and her Mom about it, it has made me realize that I miss her terribly and she is growing up so fast and I feel like I miss so much by being this far away. She is gonna be a teenager in four months, and I am not going to be taller than her for much longer!

In more visiting news, Munchkin is going to bring Frenchie to Chicago in December when he comes to visit. I don't really know how I feel about this...on the one hand, her brother and sister-in-law should obviously get to know him a little bit, and I know she is dying to show him off to all the cousins and aunts and uncles and whatnot. But, I still don't really trust them all, and frankly they can be a little tough to deal with. I am not sure that Munchkin totally appreciates the impression that they can all make on someone who is maybe not totally expecting them. I may actually suggest that they stay with BFFg and her husband while they are there since it will give them more of a break from the family. Trust me, they can be a lot to handle.

On a similar note, Munchkin was talking to her brother tonight and had him on speaker. I am not sure whether or not he knew I was in the room, but they were discussing something that caused him to say "You are really lucky to have your sister. I know you appreciate that, but I hope you tell her that all the time." I just about spit out my dinner, because that is just about the least expected compliment I have ever received. It is possible that he was medicated, because all of the other explanations are not plausible...

And now it is super late and I am tired;-) Good night!

I feel like most girls don't tell their mothers that they want to dress like a slut

I will keep you posted on my cooking progress...lots of good ideas, most of which I probably could have figured out on my own, but sometimes I need to be beaten over the head with things;-) Mostly I think I need to plan a little better and buy some stuff that I don't usually buy and see where it takes me.

On to other subjects...let me recap a little conversation that I had with Munchkin earlier tonight...

Munchkin: I need to go through your clothes.
Me: Sure. What are you looking for?
Munchkin: I need a Halloween costume
Me: Not sure what I have, but go nuts.
Munchkin: Oh, I just want something really small and slutty.

Yea...so that led to a whole other conversation, and frankly one that I have had a couple of times lately. Call me an old prude, but I don't like her dressing for the express purpose of looking "slutty", even if it is for Halloween.

I should digress for a moment and disclose a couple of things. First of all, I know all about doing that...and may or may not have lobbied Smoking Hot Roommate to wear a body-paint only costume for Halloween on a couple of occasions (which she was too modest to agree to). Second, I recognize that she remains much better about this than some of her friends, who are at constant war with their parents over the amount of cleavage, thigh and stomach that they show on a regular basis. And third, I take comfort in knowing that whatever she wears out of the house will stay on her all night;-). It may not cover much, but at least whatever is covered will stay covered;-) (Yes, there are obvious advantages to the foreign boyfriend) Again,  I like not having to worry about the things that some of her friends parents do.

That said, I would rather she dress as a nun;-) But as usual, we managed to find a compromise Cowgirl outfit that doesn't show too much for my taste, but qualifies as sexy enough in her book. As long as she wears pigtails, I will sign off on almost anything!!! I am not sure that she totally appreciates the ridiculous body that she has, but she is learning...and seems to get that she doesn't have to display everything she has to look really, really good.

Moving right along again...The Boy is away for the whole week at a training course, which means I have the girls all to myself. OK, to myself and Munchkin. This is much easier than it was even a couple of months ago...they still need a lot of attention, but it is not quite as minute-to-minute busy as it used to be. When they eat, I can get the kitchen cleaned up and the dishes done while they feed themselves and just sort of hang out. And bath time is easy, too...just fill the tub and plop them in there and then hang out and make sure they don't drown;-)

I am sure by Friday I will be totally exhausted, but so far we have had a lot of fun! Big Sis is coming over with her little boy, and Smoking Hot Roommate is going to come over and stay over with us, too...the girls LOVE their Aunt SHR.

I guess that's all for now...bed time is calling!

I want to be a better cook!

I find myself cooking a lot lately...which is largely a function of not being nearly as busy as I have been in times past. Most days I can pretty easily get back from school by 4:30, which gives me time to myself before I have to get the girls at school. If Munchkin has a soccer game, I try and go to that, and otherwise I just enjoy the peace and quiet.

So...cooking. I really like to cook. And I am not bad at it. I have a pretty good idea of how long stuff takes, what the best way is to cook it, and some sort of basic seasoning combinations that work. But, frankly, I am kind of limited. I may have a pretty good grasp on those skills that I have, but the skills are at a pretty basic level.

I guess I am not quite sure where to go from here. I don't think I want to go as far as to take a cooking class (although I suppose I could) just because I don't know how long I will have the free time to do it, and don't ever want to feel like it is a chore to go. I am not great with cook books, although I own some and tend to learn things when I use them...I am just not organzied to pick something, then shop for it, then cook it. I tend to shop, then cook things that match what I have in the kitchen. I am totally sick of the "food celebrity" culture (except I love Top Chef:-)), so I can't really watch the Food Network, either.

Side note...anyone seen the South Park episode about that? The shake weight portion was absolutely hilarious, but I loved the Food Network part, too...

Yea, I guess that part of this are my own hang-ups...I sort of seem unwilling to do the obvious, now that I go back and read that. But still, I will take any suggestions that anyone has...

Power to the People!

It seems that protest fever has caught on, and the students at Munchkin's School are up in arms and totally outraged over...changes to the dress code!!! Setting aside the light-heartedness of the topic, it is really sort of funny and kinda neat to see the first shreds of activism. Someday they will all fight for causes that matter, but for now it is nice to see them rally around something they care about and take action, knowing and accepting the consequences of their actions.

That said, I have my limits;-) Yesterday, in protest, they all decided that they would wear things that met the dress code but that were clearly outside of the spirit of it. Munchkin decided that she would wear things that she wore like two years ago, and that are therefore way too small. That all seemed fine and good, until she got herself dressed for school in a skirt that was three inches too short and a shirt that was...um..."not equipped to handle her chest"...

The obvious problem is that she is blessed with a figure you would normall see on an underwear model, and the clothes therefore made her look entirely too good... They were just a little bit too provocative for this court-appointed-guardian to send her out of the house in;-). It was, however, pretty funny to see a couple of her guy friends wearing pants that fell four inches short of their shoes...

The protest continues to day, and I will let you know how the great revolution turns out.

In other news, MK hurt her knee yesterday, and it was sort of adorable and sad:-) She was limping and pointing at her knee and whining. Have you ever seen a baby limp? I mean, they walk like they are drunk all the time anyway... What she needed was hugs and kisses from her Mommy and a good nights sleep to make everything better.

Not totally sure what happens when we get past the stage where Mommy's hugs and kisses are a cure all. I am going to enjoy it while it lasts:-)

Ranting

I took a walk by the Occupation the other night...it was warm out, and I kind of wanted to see what the big deal was (and then 140 people got arrested later that night....probably a coincidence.) Here's the thing...it smells awful, like stale urine. I am all for protesting and making a statement, but I don't see where ignoring basic hygene adds to the power of the message. Anyway, at some point it is probably a health hazard and they are all gonna get kicked out, but for now it seemed like kind of a hippie-groovy good time.

It also didn't really clear up my confusion about exactly what the are protesting...in fact, I think they specifically maybe aren't protesting, but rather are just venting some very deep frustrations. That said, some of them are just being stupid. One guy had a sign that said "not leaving until someone gives me a job". Far be it for me to point out that I got my current job through good old nepotism (sort of), but I have had plenty of jobs in my life, and every single one of them involved actually showing up somewhere and asking the hiring manager specifically to have that job. Some others had anti-war signs, which is all fine and good but seemed sort of out of step with the rest of the demonstration.

Then there were a whole bunch of people whose major gripe seemed to be that they have student loans. I get that...I have student loans, and I know loads of people that do, and virtually none of them really understood what they were signing on for when they took out those loans. It would be one thing if we taught kids how to evaluate the cost of debt in high school, but American 18 year olds are just completely ill-equipped to compare their potential earnings to their very real debt. I guess my problem with that is...how is that the fault of "Wall Street"? Or, to name their other favorite target, the dreaded "1%"?

Doesn't the fault lie with the institutions that you paid all of that tuition to? Or with the State Legislatures that consistently cut funding to higher education in order to lavish yet more absurd entitlements onto seniors (among others)? Or to the Federal agencies that have made so much subsidized money available that they have driven the cost of tuition up in a seemingly never-ending spiral?

I see lots of complaints about corporations being greedy (duh!) and "not paying their fair share". But what about Universities who hoard money and land, pay lavish salaries to useless professors and collect massive tax-free money from thir alumni? How is Harvard considered a non-profit when they have somehow managed to accumulate a $32 billion endowment? Pretty remarkable to never earn a profit but somehow have financial assets larger than maybe half a dozen US Corporations...

OK, I am rambling. But, seriously, if the Occupiers are reading this...let's focus our anger!!!

You may have infected millions of natives, but I will still take your day off

Very much looking forward to the long weekend! The weather is supposed to be really nice, and I have very little of note planned. I will probably go to Munchkin's soccer game this afternoon, and The Boy and I talked about maybe going "pumpkin hunting" tomorrow (which is just picking out pumpkins, but I like the terminology better:-)).

Or we could leave that until Sunday if the mood strikes...there are no rules here!

So, last night was chicken fingers with Smoking Hot Roommate and Munchkin, and we were celebrating. "Celebrating what?", you ask...why, how about the successful completion her Munchkin's driver's test... That's right, my little baby sister is now a licensed driver, God help us all. One downside of living where we do is that she won't really get to drive very much. She will likely find an excuse to go and visit a friend or two who live out of town this weekend, but there isn't much else that she would do that involves driving.

The upside, of course, would be living close enough to borrow Big Sis' car, which she is specifically NOT allowed to do. And which I probably have little actual say in.

So, I find myself feeling very peaceful lately. I think because maybe I haven't been super busy, the girls are at a really fun age, Munchkin is doing awesome and the weather has been nice (mostly). Of course, I am likely to have something major happen just when I like the steady, but for now I feel like I am in a really good place and fully enjoying the fall. Now, I should just maybe drink more;-)

Happy long weekend, everyone!

If I only write twice a month, am I really a blogger?

So now that I have said almost nothing in months, it seems right time that I do some blogging, eh? We'll see how this goes...

First of all, I am not quitting blogging, and I have little desire to do anything of the sort. I was just (two posts and two weeks ago) lamenting the difficulties of maintaining a stream of content. I guess I am just going through a funk while trying to determine the appropriate subject matter going forward. But I enjoy it too much and have gotten way too much out of it over the years to want to fold up. I am not kidding about already having written the last post, though...some day...

What's new? Well, school is moving along, and not working at all has made it much easier. I have been able to get to just about all of Munchkin's soccer games, and am enjoying seeing the girls more than I did before. I sort of miss working, but I am thinking of it more as an extended vacation and enjoying the time away. I will definitely be excited to go back after the New Year...

We are going to a wedding in Mexico in December which I am looking forward to. That means that someone gets to be in charge of the girls for four straight days...yikes!...but I think it will be fine. We have finally gotten them totally and completely sleeping in their cribs all night every night without every waking up, which is a huge help. They kept getting better and then regressing and it was always way too easy to just wake up and give them a bottle or bring them into bed rather than let them cry for two hours, but we finally just gave in and dealt with it for two days and now all is better. MA picked it up basically in one night, and LK took two...not bad at all.

Changing subjects..."Occupy Wall Street"? What the F is this all about? I guess I get the idea of protesting against the influence of money on politics, but why aren't these people protesting the Politicians who sold themselves? Or, better yet, working to fire them, since they all have that power? And truthfully, I get the impression that they don't really have a whole lot of direction...or, you know, goals, objectives, demands, whatever. I really can't tell what it is that they want. They sure did build themselves a (smaller than they are getting media credit for) tent village over by South Station, though...and I can't even begin to guess how wonderful that will smell in a week...

Anyway...I am guessing that I don't have any readers who are currently occupying (fill in the blank city here), but if I do, give a shout and let us all know exactly what the dilly is.