Happy things

A few things to be happy about this weekend:

1. Sweatpants.


2. A plastic jack-o-lantern filled with candy- yes,
I'm sneaking it from my son. Don't judge! ; )

3. New mascara- I try every brand out there, and
always end up going back to my old favorite.
Will I ever learn?


4. Nap time- for baby and me.

5. Finally feeling "okay" to be making my Christmas
card mailing list now that Halloween is over.
Yes, I'm one of those.


6. For enjoying a few calm breaths before the craze
of the holidays sets in.

7. Football!


8. My hubby singing some strange song about blogging to me
as I type this.

9. The World Series- and actually knowing what's
going on, for once.


10. New shower gel that smells like cherry blossoms.

Trick- or- Treat!!

Just a few quick pics of how our trick or treating
adventures went.

Remember how I was worried that the Monkey wouldn't
wear his pirate costume (the hat, the sword, eyepatch, etc)?



Uh...yeah. I guess I didn't need to be
worried. This is what a few sips of MT Dew does to a kid.
Thanks, Papa! : )

We had a great time, and Monkey ended up with quite
a bit of loot. It was all a lot of fun.

Now, Monkey is all tuckered out, and fell asleep with his
eyeliner scruffy beard still drawn on. ; )




Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! Be safe!

A Guilt Update

Wellll, the friend emailed back. Upset. Of course. She cancelled her flight and hotel reservations. She made me feel guilty. She lectured a bit. But...well...I guess it was what had to be done. I feel bad for hurting her feelings; I actually do not feel bad for standing up for my viewpoint of things. I am a little proud of myself for not backing down. I wrote her back- and I don't think I even used the word sorry. More than twice. ; )

I guess we'll see. I may very well have ruined a friendship, and cut ties with someone who was near and dear to my heart for most of my life. But...I guess sometimes people change, ties break, and you just have to move on, rather than dwelling in the past when things seemed good still.

The Patch Revisited

Well, I promised, didn't I? I told the Monkey we would return to the punkin patch and purchase one for our very own.

I did better than that...we got FIVE!!!







We immediately picked out three little ones (we've decided that one is for Monkey to keep, one is for me to take to work for a little seasonal cheer, and one is for my BFF, who we lovingly call "Aunt Kelly"), out of a giant pile- although the pile had dwindled quite a bit from a week ago. Next we found a little red wagon to put our punkin findings in, and Monkey helped push it around while I spotted the best big punkins. We found two.

We immediately brought them all home to carve, and I was detirmined to also save some of the seeds to roast them. I think they turned out kind of cute! The Monkey wasn't in a model mood, apparently, because he wouldn't let me get any good shots of him with the punkins. He also was REALLY upset when I put them outside and made him stay inside. I know, horrible mother!!

The roasted seeds turned out awesome as well. A little salty (me and my infamous over-seasoning strikes again), but quite tasty nonetheless. : ) We are now officially ready for Halloween!

Now if Monkey will just wear his pirate costume without any tantrums........stay tuned. ; )

The Guilt of a Friendship

Something has been eating at me since last night. It doesn't really sound like a long time, but I'm the kind of girl that let's things- all things- get to her. I over analyze, I over think, I worry, I fret. It's a wonder I'm not sporting a head of gray hair at my ripe ol' age of 25, honestly.

This past week I heard from an old friend. I say old because we've had...sort of a falling out. I don't really remember what happened exactly. I know that she didn't come to my wedding- that was in our hometown- because she was going to be out of town for a family camping trip. And then she didn't come have lunch the next day with me and a bunch of friends because she felt awkward. And we haven't seen each other since. I think I was finally the one that emailed her to find out how she was doing.

So then, this week, I find out that she wants to come visit me. In Florida. For a week. I have a lot of issues with this. For one, we really aren't as close as we once were. Aside from the whole wedding thing- that honestly doesn't bother me, sometimes things just happen and you know, I got married just fine without her- we just don't talk much. She's never travelled before- she's never flown before, she's never been out of Montana- and so I know I will be completely paranoid for her. And third, because of the very untravelled-ness, she won't be renting a car, which makes me the "dependable" source of transportation. The problem with THAT is, I won't be able to take any time off work while she's here, PLUS I will most likely be working two jobs at that point since I will soon be experiencing a new job venture at the beginning of the upcoming year. So two jobs, a two year old, and a husband that commutes a good hour for his job does not equal a lot of free time.

I'm not good at confrontation. I can't even honk at bad drivers most of the time. I say I'm sorry too much, I ask waiters if its okay if I order something, I used to ask my mother if I could go to the bathroom when I was little. It's really pitiful, and it's one of the qualities I dislike most about myself.

So, last night, in attempts to A) nip this whole trip thing in the bud while B) avoiding confrontation, I emailed my friend, and listed all the concerns I had about said trip. And then apologized by saying that if I was out of line, I was very sorry. And now I am sitting here, checking my email every ten minutes, agonizing that I've hurt her feelings and have effectively ruined our already failing friendship. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?????

I probably should have called her. I get that. But...while my friend is very funny, and at times very wonderful and nice, she's also...well, loud and stressful and overwhelming. So...I guess I took the easy road out. Or the seemingly easy road. Since no road is easy when you think about it constantly, even in your sleep. No road is easy when you recite what you will say in your email while in the shower. Yes, both of these really happened. Augh, the torture I put myself through.

So, what? Did I do the right thing? Am I a horrible friend? I keep going back and forth. My one ounce of backbone is saying "Get over it! She treated you like crap and didn't appreciate your friendship!" and then the rest of me is saying "How could you do this to someone you've known since the third grade? Is there no soul in there?" The devil-and-angel on the shoulder routine gets dizzying and annoying pretty quick.

Any thoughts, dear readers??

Bummed Much??

Alright, so, as a girl from Montana, I haven't been to many concerts. I think my first concert ever was Kathy Mattea- uh, yeah. I of course enjoyed it, but...yeah. In fact, I think I can list all my concerts on one hand: Kathy, Joe Diffie, Dan Seals, Bare Naked Ladies, Flogging Molly, B.B. King (okay, that one was pretty freakin' awesome), and my brief viewing of Jimmy Buffett @ the Monday Night Miami game. Alright, I guess that's a few more than a handful. And while I get that some people haven't been that fortunate, it's still kind of pitiful.

This summer I was planning to remedy that a bit. A bunch of friends, my hubby, and I were going to go see AEROSMITH, baby, for my mother's visit here. Yeah...well, the night before our concert, we found out they had cancelled the remainder of their tour. Stupid Steven Tyler and his old man hip, or whatever it was. *sigh* So, no concert. Strike one.

Rumor was that Jimmy was supposed to have a concert here in O-town sometime in November, but before they even began to sell tickets, the date was cancelled. Strike two.

THEN, my BFF and I were planning to go to the Blue October concert next Friday at the House of Blues- and we found out Thursday that the lead singer is in the hospital due to a severe anxiety attack, and that his doctors have forced them to cancel the entire tour. Strike three and I am OUT.

So...we have decided that, for now, we are just not meant to see any concerts. I had a friend suggest that we get tickets for a Kanye West concert, since if we are to send anyone to the hospital...oh, that's horrible. Delicious, but horrible. ; )

I guess for now I will have to be content with mix CDs, and me be-bopping in my car. Which, believe, me....I do! : )

A little more Blue October, in honor of Justin, and in hopes that he gets better soon!!!

Dinner and a Movie...and Book....

So I've been off my whole Friday Movie blog plan- not to mention Tuesday Tune day. But...I'm trying to get back on track! : )

This week I thought I'd devote to my all time favorite book. I've always been really good with all things English- writing, reading, essays, grammar (mostly), spelling (mostly), etc. But I have to confess, most of the books we were required to read in high school were a little snooze-worthy ( I am SO sorry, Mr. John Steinbeck). But, seriously, an entire book about an old guy on a boat, in the middle of the ocean who catches a giant fish? Um . . .

Needless to say, when our teacher passed out To Kill A Mockingbird in sophomore English, I had a moment of inward groaning. I didn't know anything about the book before opening to the first page- it was just one of those titles we all knew for whatever reason. I hadn't seen the movie either. I just assumed that it would be lame- it's a mistake a lot of high school aged kids make. Anything that was created before they were born was lame and old-school.

I would say by page three I was hooked to this book. I devoured it. Every day we would have to have a few more chapters read for class discussion- I finished the book in two days. I loved it. I don't even know why I loved it so much. I suppose because the writing is so clear, so simple and clean. The characters are so real- you could easily fit people from your own life as replacements. Then there's the great little message of humanity and decency.

In English class, we had the option to either borrow a used copy of the book or buy a new one for our own for $3. I bought mine- because I like to write in them sometimes, okay?- and I did keep it, and I read it over and over again. Now, I seemed to have misplaced my copy- but I hope to someday replace it with a new, possibly hard cover, copy. : )