Halloweener

Even though I'm not a super ginormous fan of dressing in costume anymore, I still love Halloween.  I love the spookiness of the season:  The increasing darkness, the dimming pallet of oranges, browns, golds and the thinning of sunlight all add to the overall eeriness of this time of year. 

I also love Halloween goodies and decorations.  Here are some Etsy finds I'm positively ghouling over.  Heh.

1.  A spooky painting:

Bat Tree Original Painting by jellybeans

2.  And more bats:

Halloween Bat Paper Garland by houseofclouds

3.  Mmmmm, pie:

You are my Pumpkin Pie Card by friendsagain

4.  Zombie Bunnies love treats:

Zombie Buns Attack Snack Plate by barbaradonovan

5. A vintage collage.  Adorbs.

Halloween Time Vintage-style Original Collage by summerroad

6.  And a super cute boogie-ing Batman, if I DO say so myself. 

Happy Halloween!!

Take care of yourself

I love this message.  Its simple, direct and meaningful.   I can hear and see the mother in her coming out just a bit and I like it.  Although I'm *just* a straight ally, my guess is that for young people it doesn't always take sweeping policy changes (those will come) or big promises or protests or rallies (necessary but sometimes overwhelming) . 

Sometimes, maybe, you just need someone to tell you that you matter and to have hope that things will get better.




Thank you, Ms. Secretary of State.  You have your moments and this is one of them.

Making Hay

On what could very well be the last pretty weekend of fall before the snow hits (its forecast for this week), a friend and I took our dogs on an epic trail run on Saturday.  We set out to do maybe 7 or 8 miles up at Happy Jack...and ended up doing somewhere between 10 and 11 (my NikeSportBand, which I think tends to be high, said 11 and her GPS phone said 10.6...).

Here I am at mile 8 or so, stopping to enjoy the view.  I definitely look like I've been running for a while.  Heh.

It was beautiful day.  Brisk enough that I never felt overheated but warm enough to run in a tank and capris.  The dogs had a great time, too:

We couldn't believe that 8 miles in, they still had the energy for these kind of shenanigans.  Although later that night, Ruby was dead. to. the. world. and I physically had to pry her off the couch and make her go outside to pee before bed.

To tell the truth, I was pretty tired myself.  But in a good, feeling like a total badass kind of way.  :)


*        *        *        *       *        *        *        *         *         *

AND!!  Omg!  I just saw that the freaking Coen brothers are remaking one of my favorite movies  from when I was young.  My husband it excited because this one doesn't have John Wayne in it.  (He HATES John Wayne.  I sort of totally love him.  Opposites attract, I guess.)

So. Excited.  Take a look:

Holy shit

1.  Look over there =>   ...My DailyMile counter says 250 miles, baby!!  That's how far I've run since I started logging mileage.  Pretty impressive.  To these eyes, anyhow.

My knee is feeling better (knock on wood) thanks due, I think, to reducing my mileage, running on gravel/dirt for a bit and wearing a knee strap like this one.   Let's hope the trend continues and I can knock out some amazing runs before the snow flies.

2.  Work...OMG, y'all.  My new job is kind of monopolizing things right now.  Definitely don't want to go into too much detail here but suffice to say that things are crazy but hopefully will be settling down in the next few weeks.  Just gotta keep my eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel.  And drink lots of coffee.

3.  My son is such a joy right now.  He's going to be Batman for Halloween and we've been learning all about the letter "B" lately ("its like a man with a big belly, mama!") so its fun to see him connecting all the words that start with B in his head, including Batman.  He's growing at a ridiculous rate- I've noticed recently that most of his jeans are nearly too short for him, although he's constantly pulling them up because he has a skinny little butt and they keep slipping down.  (Anyone know a good brand that might fit a skinny butted, long legged kid?)

He's also doing a lot of pre-reading things like becoming OBSESSED with puzzles and asking what signs/papers/labels say.  He's always liked puzzles but now he'll knock out several before dinner and want more after.  Aside from writing his own name (which he's done for a while now), he can also recognize the names of each child in his class, and some other basic words.  I don't think its quite reading yet, more like just recognizing certain letters but I don't think it will be long!  It's so amazing to see that little brain figuring it all out.

4.  The fall here has been one of the prettier ones in recent memory.  I've made it up to the mountain for several runs which is SO good for my mental health and spirit in general.  The weather seems like it will hold for at least a few more days so I have plans for another run with a friend this weekend.  We're all wondering when the first snow will hit...its usually before Halloween.  We'll see...

Ozark Otto Awesomeness

We just got back into town after visiting my folks in the Ozarks for several days.  We drove, we flew, rented a car and drove some more.  We saw a civil war battlefield, Bass Pro Shop (OMG, the red-neck-i-ness of it all), a cave, ate AMAZING BBQ , recreated near flowing rivers and deep, woodsy forests aand generally enjoyed ourselves.  It became apparent pretty quickly that we were starved for family together time without the distractions of home.

One thing that really stood out on the trip was Otto.  He was awesome.  Great in the car, great on the plane, agreeable, easily entertained and overall just pleasant.  He had maybe two small meltdowns the entire trip but I don't think you can blame him- his schedule was completely thrown out the window and there was A LOT of driving and sightseeing even for me.  And I'm 30 years older than him.  Each little meltdown was resolved with relative ease.

He really loved the bus that took us from the airport to our car.  "Mom!  Mom!  We're riding a bus!"  (He's doing this thing right now where every other sentence requires a nearly shouted "MOM!"  Just to make sure I'm still listening, I guess.  And even if I immediately answer, he'll sometimes do it multiple times as if vamping until his thought is formulated enough to say out loud.  "MOM!"  "Yes?"  "Mom!"  "Yes?"  "MOM!"  "YES???????"  (pause)  "We're on a BUS!!!"  I try to be patient with this but its so annoying, sometimes I find myself saying "Whaaaaaaaaat?!?" in an exasperated tone.  Hopefully he grows out of it soon.)

His other favorite thing was throwing rocks in the river by my folks house.  He (and really all the boys, including my dad) could have done that for hours on end.  A wonderful time was had and we got lots of pictures...but of course they're still on my camera.   Haven't quite had time to sit down and upload them all yet.

Oh! And no potty accidents at all.  So proud of him.

We got back late on Monday and then yesterday, Otto and I took the day off to regroup, pay the rent, get groceries, unpack, do laundry, etc.   He kept saying "Mom!  We have the DAY OFF!!!"   We got all our shit done with some time left over to play and make cabbage buns for dinner.

After getting to see him all day, everyday for so many days in a row, I was a little teary-eyed when leaving him at daycare this morning.  I miss his little silly butt.