captain america to the rescue!!

happy halloween!

can i tell you that tom's never carved a pumpkin before??? he did an excellent job for his first time, though he did annoy my sister to no end since he kept throwing the seeds away.

it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown!

yesterday we made a killing at Rose's Berry Farm. For $5, we (we=hunter) got to jump around on giant bales of hay, go on some slides, play on an old tractor and take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch where they still had tons of great pumpkins and a corn maze! we picked out a few pumpkins (melanie was very indecisive) and waited in the freezing cold for the tractor to come pick us up with all our pumpkins. so, we get back down, and oh yeah, it also included face painting. that's a spider on hunter's cheek. and oh yeah again! they had a 3-pack of cider donuts for a DOLLAR. so good. ok, where was i? oh yeah, paying for the pumpkins. so. tom and i pay for our two and it's like ten bucks. mel had three and noticed a sign that said 39 cents a pound or fill an entire radio flyer wagon for $15!!! so we ran out and picked like 200 more. seriously, we filled that wagon. we're like "ohh one for mrs. wright. oooooh one for hunter's teacher. oh yeah, mel can bring these to kindercare... and here's one for the upstairs crazy neighbor...." so tonight is carving night. i'll add pictures from that, too.

and in OTHER news, jen and i met aj on saturday. way to go mariella and todd. she's definitely a keeper.

steer clear, big tuna.

dude, how is the office a repeat already?!?! i'm so disappointed. but at least it's a funny one. last week wasn't funny except for "i would have also accepted 'snakes'."

chilly willy

my little kitten is loving the fireplace this cold fall morning. as much as i'm not loving the colder weather, i admit, it's much easier to deal with when you have a fireplace.
ooh and cider.

we went to mel & hunter's for dinner tonight. i love stuffing. i love the fall because it's appropriate to have stuffing on several occasions when it's cold outside.

also, mel scolded hunter for saying "whatever" too much and asked who says it (he's learned a lot of fun new phrases in kindergarten) and he was like... "mem" ~ so good.

one week!

hunter's going to be captain america for halloween, but this picture is too cute not to post, too. i'm in stinkin valhalla today, so i'm cranky and busy, but i'll post more later. if you're good.

update:

• still. no. desk.
  
• meeting mariella's little arianna this weekend with jen!!
  
• i'm still in valhalla and not happy about it.
  
• we may be eating pizza for dinner tonight.
  
• i need to go shopping for all my november birthday babies. ooooh!

wtf?!!?!??!

um. i don't even know what else to say about lost last night. ps? i love how there are just new cast members (one of them is the hot brazilian that was in love actually, so i'll take it)that we're supposed to "remember" -- hi, we all know that basically all of the main cast members are either dead, tug boating somewhere with their magic child, in a bear cage, bear CAVE or aquarium or running around like a nekkid fool. i think it's funny how they ran out of regulars, so they had to buy some new ones.

that said, i need to give shout outs to twop. they usually sum it up wayyyy better than anyone else can, so enjoy, if you don't already.

oh yeah, and claire has bangs in the airport with charlie. i don't like them. just sayin.

don't EVEN

funny... i never (in all my two months of blogging) encountered any problems w/ blogger.com until i was FORCED to merge w/ google. now. looky here:

anyway, it's working again and i just want to vent about another thing that annoys me... DELL. i had an ibm thinkpad for three years at work and never ever had a single problem with it. i've had this dell latitude for like 6 months and had to have the keyboard replaced because the backspace key fell off. well lo and behold... mind you, i had it replaced YESTERDAY:

that's right. the "r" key has fallen off. already. ridiculous.

help me help you.

ok, i have a task for all of you. (haha, "all"... jen, christine and jan.) think of some stuff your mom has taught you. things you only know because you learned them from your mom. my earlier examples were how often to clean out your coffee maker, how to fold a fitted sheet and how to make the best thanksgiving stuffing known to meat eaters. it can be a quick list, or a story or whatever. it doesn't have to be moving or sad -- it could be something like how to sew a button or how to tame a cowlick. OR it could be something (like the fitted sheet example) that you didn't learn from her when you had the chance, but wish you did. and now you have to teach yourself and that's just a little thing i like to call bullshit. hear me, mom? BULLSHIT. ahem. where was i? oh yes. it could be something like a bad habit she had that you learned not to copy, as well.

this isn't because i'm a glutton (i am, but this isn't why i ask for your help.) i'm thinking of writing a short story to submit to a magazine and i think this might be a cool topic. "what i learned from my mom." dudes, there are SO many levels to that statement. it's all very awesome. we can appreciate who they are, who they were and how they impacted who we are. for better or worse.

and if you can't bring your lazy selves to jot down a damned list for me (or, if you can't bring yourself to open up this pandora's box "can open. worms everywhere!") maybe you can just tell me what you think of this idea in general. would you read it?

check me out. i'm a creative writer again. where have i been hiding all this time?!?!

OH also? i am a baker, too. check out my suzy homemaker banana bread. tom is like so lucky. he don'even KNOW!

busy and unimportant.

apologies for being MIA lately. i have been so busy with work and other stuff that i've completely forgotten to blog. so you would think i'd have all sorts of exciting news to blog about. not really.

my car is at the shop gettin all gussied up for winter. for the price of a long weekend in vegas. damn it.

i am pissed because they moved the trash compactor to the back of our apt complex and now i have to walk like a quarter of a mile (in the snow, uphill, both ways) to take out the garbage. bullshit, dudes.

and kevin federline on csi? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA — seriously. that's my review.

also? simon keeps making this weird noise. like he's scarfing something in his throat. it's scaring me. it's like a scary movie noise. except instead of a knife wielding psychopath making it, it's my 8lb fluffball mute of a cat.

ice cream alert

i made the mistake of buying ice cream, fudge, whipped cream and nuts. now i can have a sundae EVERY NIGHT. i mean, the ice cream is actually fat free frozen yogurt (2 points) and the whipped cream is ALSO ff (0 points) but the fudge and nuts are not.

but still better (and cheaper) than a friendly's sundae. holla! i really have no exciting news to report today. sorry!!!

what next??

dude, now i have to worry about lettuce poisoning me too??? i read in the paper that lettuce is now being recalled for e. coli. freakin great. piece by piece my salads are falling apart. why can't something gross like celery have e. coli? or beets? why must it be delightful greens?!

oh yeah. what about brian premieres tomorrow night. finally! yay!

oh and also? blogger has updated and i may screw up my blog figuring it out, so i apologize in advance.

indian summer?

it's october, right? am i supposed to be sweating whilst pumpkin hunting?!

today, mel and i took hunter to lyman orchards to go pumpkin picking. it was PACKED. after we waited a half hour for cider donuts, cider and a candy apple, the cashier said it's because it's columbus day weekend. oh. whoops.

so then we stood in line for a half hour to take a hay ride. around the parking lot, basically. but it was fun.

then we picked out pumpkins. it was more of a pile of pumpkins than a patch, but we're going to explore other patches as we get closer to halloween. there were tons of gourds and corn and other awesome fall stuff, just not the pumpkin patch we were really looking for.

anyway. happy long weekend to those of you (like me. ha.) who have one.

i am still deskless.

it's a sad, sad state of affairs. still no desk. i will show tom. i will just go frivolously buy a lovely and expensive desk. HA. that'll show him. um. that i am retarded with money. ok, maybe not.

i am on a popcorn streak. i grated some parmesan cheese on it tonight. delightful. ok ok ok... did i even POST about lost yet??? some people were saying it wasn't so great, but i loved it. i love the whole little universe on the island and i love the aquarium and bear cages (thanks to jen's smart observation that sawyer's little cage may have previously been home to POLAR BEARS!!!). i just love that show. i love tv so much since it takes my mind off my problems. for example, god BLESS american idol. how it saved us this past winter while we were picking up the pieces of our sad little shattered hearts. actually, it's not the first time our hearts had been shattered, so they were more like pointy shards of hearts. anyway.

so i'm now also at the loving point of dancing with the stars. now, what i mean by loving point is that i don't watch the show from the very beginning. i don't care at that point and there are two many damned couples. i started watching this week... there were six left and that's a more reasonable number for me to choose my favorites from. i hate the country singer. she looks like a cadaver. how dare she dance to a phantom song? she is like a monkey stabbing a tiger in the back with a stick. (oh yes, i love the office, too.) i would like ac slater, but his partner looks like a dirty little rat. i like emmitt smith because he's way better than jerry rice was and i LOVE his partner, cheryl. she's the best. i think i'm rooting for (and i can't believe i'm going to say this) joey lawrence. and his sexy bald head.

hm. what else? oh, planning my next peapod order. my life is TOO EXCITING!!!!!!!!

eta: fa-shion show. fa-shion show. fa-shion show at lunch!

wow. depressed much??

jeez, sorry for the downer last night. i was so sad. but i'm better today. it comes and goes. sadly, even when it goes, i know it's coming back at some point. but! things to be happy about:

• it's hunter night tonight! speaking of... he came home from school yesterday with shredded pants. when my sister asked him what happened, he said he fell and ripped them. then a girl from his class totally ratted him out -- "he did NOT fall, he cut them with scissors!!" indeed, he did, as was confirmed by the disappointed note from his teacher. my sister was furious. i said all little kids experiment with scissors. don't all five-year-old girls cut their hair? she said good point, but hair is FREE. true.
• grey's anatomy, baby!!!!
• i got free lunch courtesy of work. holla back youngin!

that's all for now. oh yeah, and i MAY get my desk tonight, but i'm not holding my breath. tom does NOT love me, obviously. ;)

so tired.

i should be sleeping. i have to go to valhalla tomorrow. i have a meeting at 10am.

it's always the hardest for me to sleep when the wind is howling. it happens a lot up here. the morning of my mother's funeral my sister was crying and said to me, "i just wish she could tell us she's ok." and ten seconds later the wind came, as though it was singing to us. and she said that's how she knew my mom was ok. she was singing to us.

everytime i hear it now, i can't help but wonder what she's trying to tell me. tonight i think she's saying, "i miss you too, steph." and it's raining. which makes sense because i'm crying too, mom.

the nights are always the hardest. even seven months later. especially seven months later when i realize that it's been more than half a year since i've seen her or hugged her or heard her voice. dialed her number and not gotten that horrible news. why does it feel like an eternity sometimes and others, like tonight, it feels like i just lost her this morning?

anyway. sorry for the late night rambling. i'm just really missing her tonight. and i guess, from the sounds of it, she's missing me, too.

oh man.

terrorizing our televisions on october 12. (photo from pink is the new blog)

i don't know what's cuter...

my adorable candle art thingy or the sleeping boy beneath. and don't think there wasn't a little gray fluffball of a cat sleeping with him, because there was. the other one is sleeping on my lap. :)

back on track.

so i started counting points again this week and thank god. it's never a good sign when you start digging out the fat pants. i've only been lifetime at ww for 6 months. COME ON!!

that said, tom is on his way home with a 6-pack of sam light. apparently we need to have a little happy hour. his commute sucks.

in other news, i repotted a bunch of plants over the last few days. my mom would be so proud. actually, unless she had the ability to watch me with some secret heaven x-ray vision, she wouldn't believe me that i repotted plants. because i? kill plants and throw them away. another thing she wouldn't believe is that i actually cleaned my coffee maker. i remember fighting with her about how you really don't need to run vinegar through it every once in awhile to clean it. well, yesterday i opened the lid (mind you, i've had this thing for over 7 months) and it says "clean every month. see instructions for details." hm.

so i dig out the instructions (she also wouldn't believe that i actually kept the instructions.) and they specifically state that one should run vinegar through the machine once a month to clean out some sort of deposits. whoops. mom, i am sorry i doubted you. i really am. you are a mom and you know better. i also wish i would have listened to you when you tried to show me how to fold a fitted sheet. because i still can't do it, and i can't call you to ask you how. and that sucks worse than tom's commute. which is saying a lot.

happy birthday, erin!

went to boston saturday for erin's 31st birthday. whee! i don't know why, but both times i've gone and stayed there, i've had the worst hangover of my life the next morning. actually, that's a lie. i know exactly why. because i mixed beer, wine and cocktails. bad move.

but we did get vip treatment at this little club we went to after dinner. skip the line, through the velvet rope. so fancy. except we didn't really like the club so we left. after sleeping till 11:30am yesterday, we had pancakes and watched a little beverly hills cop, then i came home. ahh. nice weekend.

OH. i watched hunter's karate class on saturday morning. it was so freakin cute i can't even explain it. i will take pictures next time. he's the only "high" white belt in his class, so he needs to practice bustin some boards to move up. he basically jumps around like he's a spring the whole time. it's adorable.