Everything but the kitchen sink

Thanksgiving was lowkey and relaxing. Isaac and I went to my parents and my one brother joined us. I got two random "Happy Thanksgiving!" texts from phone numbers I didn't recognize. Wasn't sure what to do with that. Isaac had his heart set on playing football but it was very cold and rainy so we had to settle for indoor activities. Dinner was delicious. We played some gin rummy and then we sacked out on the couch for a while wasting away in front of the TV. My dad and I watched the Zumba infomercial for like 20 minutes. I think he secretly wants to do it. Which he totally should. It's so fun!We drove home around eight and Isaac was snoring within minutes of pulling away. He woke up when he got home long enough to ask for some dessert and to declare "I wish we could live at Grandma's forever!"

Black Friday I went out in the city with some girlfriends, which was supposed to be a late birthday celebration for me. (Oh yeah, my birthday was the 17th, but I have been celebrating for pretty much the whole month of November. 29 is great so far). We went to Tria and I had my favorite thing on their menu (after dinner, of course): Nutella Panini. If I had to only choose one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be Nutella Panini. I was about halfway done with it when the waitress came over, and stuck a candle in the remnant of my sandwich, which was cute.

Most of the talk that evening centered around my one girlfriend who has recently gotten very serious with the guy she is dating. They are talking marriage and she is about to buy a house and officially move in with him (she's not LDS, fyi).... AND his twin ten year olds. Although she adores the two kids (a boy and a girl) she shared some of the issues they are encountering as she essentially takes on the role of step mom in a household where the kids are pretty much running the show. I mostly sided with her (ten year olds with ten thirty bedtimes? I don't think so). I found myself biting my lip on some topics though. There are some things about having kids that you just don't understand if you don't have kids yourself (example-- she was repulsed by the fact that he let his son sleep in his bed all day when he was home from school sick. It made total sense to me. Isaac often sleeps in my bed when he is not feeling well too. I think it's comfort thing).

It was interesting to imagine being in that situation though. I would certainly want my partner to feel comfortable dealing with (minor-type) discipline issues and I recognize how important that would be in a blended family or step parent situation. But if I had to be totally honest, I think I think a little part of me would balk a little bit. Even now I feel defensive if one of my brothers disciplines Isaac. It would be a hard thing. I am interested to see how it all plays out for her.

Anyways, before dinner we also oogled clothes and household items we can't really afford went shopping at Anthropologie. My friend briefly contemplated an 18 dollar hot pad. I told her I could make her one FOR FREE and she agreed. I went home and made these in about an hour with some scraps I had from other fall projects. If you remember, I have LOTS of heat resistant batting from another potholder project, so everything was ready to roll.

I also decided to make a matching hot mitt. I didn't take a picture of it, but it turned out pretty cute. The potholders I just sort of did myself but the oven mitt I followed this tutorial.

It was very clear and should have been easy to follow, but it my eagerness to finish, I would forge ahead after only skimming and then discover I had made a mistake and then would have to go back and start over. Totally reminded me of that saying "haste makes waste". I gave them to her today and she could not believe I made them myself. I think she really liked them. Maybe there is a hope for this undomestic goddess after all. Saturday my friends (a girl I work with and her husband) invited me over for dinner and a game night. Backstory: In October they had taken me and another friend to a Halloween party where I briefly met another one of their friends. I will refer to him as FOF (Friend of a Friend). Afterwards apparently FOF got in touch with my coworker and asked about me. So anyways, when she invited me over Saturday she said she was having some people over and that FOF would be there. Okay, whatever. Of course, I show up and it is just FOF. No other people. HELLO awkward setup. We drove to Chile's and there was this moment of hesitation as we approached the booth. She even joked about should I sit with her or with FOF? I ended up sitting with FOF. And he ordered the exact same thing as me: chicken club tacos without the bacon. He was a nice enough guy, he really was. And our evening was enjoyable. Dinner was good and we played all kinds of fun games. However, to my friends' dismay, FOF is not the guy for me. I hope this doesn't sound snotty, but I will explain why.

• Strike one: over dinner passionately talked about his love of black metal music for about 20 minutes and various experiences seeing bands with names like Dying Fetus in concert.
• Strike two: at some point it came out that although he is no longer collecting unemployment while working at Gamestop, he still lives in his grandmother's attic. Seriously? SERIOUSLY?! I don't want to sound like it's all about money or anything like that, but by mid thirties you had better be in your own place paying the bills.
• Strike three: Okay, this is the one that I feel really mean revealing. But here goes: We were playing Scattergories and he hardly ever came up with anything for any category, any round. I mean, "name something in the room that starts with c"? "name a four letter word that starts with a"? Nothing... It was a little alarming. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but then we moved onto Uno. He had no frame of reference for the game Uno, which I just found to be frankly, odd. After we explained the game and started playing he still couldn't get the concept and was just throwing out cards randomly. We would have to stop and explain it to him again. I mean, really, the premise of the game is just matching colors and numbers. I will let you draw your own conclusions to avoid spelling out what I feel is too mean to outright say.

So anyways, it was an enjoyable night, but I don't see much of a future with FOF. It has been quite a while since I was blindsided with an unexpected set up though, so I give them props for that.

We've started decorating the house for Christmas. I dug out the huge two tubs of Christmas stuff but I haven't unloaded them all the way yet. One is pretty much all Christmas ornaments and I'm still not sure what to do about a Christmas tree. Last year my brother loaned me a tiny fake one. It was supposed to be three feet tall but it was actually more like eighteen inches. The cats had a field day with it, knocking it over and batting the ornaments all over the house. I want a real one this year, but only if the cats can behave. Anyone have any tips for cat-proofing the tree? My brother is supposed to make an appearance this week to help us put some lights up outside, so I'm looking forward to that.

Tomorrow is back to school officially, although I was in for several hours today. I felt unprepared to start the week, and it was a good thing I went in. The more I started to do, the more I discovered needed to be done. (Hello IEP meeting after school tomorrow. Didn't remember you were there!) I have been feeling a ton of anxiety about the month of December. It's such a crazy time at school, with so many things that need to be crammed in before break. There is also so much going on outside of work: parties, get togethers, plays, family commitments, stores, crowds, things to be bought, wrapped, mailed and of course money stretched thin. All of it good stuff but it is a little overwhelming to coordinate it all.

Anyways, I should go. Feel free to leave comments and have a lovely week!

I highly recommend...

....having a brother who is a mechanic and maintains and fixes your car under the table and on his own time on the cheap (even if you do have to endure a semi-annual lecture about how hard you are on brakes). ...having a sister who is an awesome nurse and who fields countless phone calls when you have convinced yourself you have some kind of life threatening disease.

....having a brother in law who teaches your son to ride a two wheeler with no training wheels by running up and down the streets of Ocean City on a rainy day. .... having a brother who is handy with household repairs (and painting) (and putting up Christmas lights) (and hanging artwork and picture frames). My siblings are all so talented and hardworking and I am blessed that they are so willing to share their talents to help me.

I pretty much have the best siblings ever.

(aww.. I'm warm and fuzzy all over now... doesn't this post just make you want to go out and buy a baby bunny?)

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

So we got out some of our Christmas decorations this weekend. Isaac loved this Santa potholder and ran off to find it a suitable spot. I had to chuckle later on when I discovered it precariously positioned on this (very frequently used) light switch.

WIWW is back!

Ugh. Hideous quality camera phone shots again this week. My apologies.

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy. Saturday/Shopping and Holiday Prep in Lancaster These ones were taken in my parent's hideous upstairs bathroom. The house they bought a little more than a year ago had the ugliest decor you had ever seen. They have been working a lot to repaint, recarpet, etc. They haven't touched this bathroom yet. Yes, that's pink CARPET on the floor.

Jeans/Socks/Belt - GAP Sweater/Earrings/Shoes - Target Tank - Old Navy Pin - made by me

Sunday/Church

Back to my bathroom. Bright pink carpet in a bathroom may be wrong, but bright pink walls in a bathroom? Now that's classy!

Didn't get a full length shot of the dress. It's about knee length. That's an advantage to doing WIWW. I was about to reach for one of my (cute but) tried and true fall/winter church dresses. Then I remembered I had already photographed that one, so I thought I better choose something else. This dress was a summer wardrobe MVP and it was nice to bust it out again for fall. Dress: Converse (Target) Shirt: Kohl's Necklace: Target T-Strap Mary Janes: Ross from ages ago. Couldn't find a brand name on them anywhere. Bracelet: birthday present from my sister! Isn't it so cute?! It is from the Vera Wang line for Kohl's. I covet almost every piece from that line. The top of it is all those silvery discs and charms and the bottom is just a thick piece of black elastic.

Tuesday/Work (parent performance)

I decided to dress up because we were having parents in for our first grade performance. Although I will often wear skirts to work, I rarely will wear heels. Now I remember why. One of my students had a really rough morning and I ended up rolling around on the ground for three hours with him (I do autistic support and some of my students need a lot of behavior support). I didn't even make it to the parent performance. Murphy's law I guess. Skirt - H and M (actually part of a suit).

Sweater - Old Navy

Boots - no clue

Wednesday (work)

Shirt - Kohl's

Cords - Old Navy

Purple flats - Target

Necklace and charm bracelet - gifts from my mom

Have a lovely Thanksgiving all!

So for the past two months or so I have been debating with one of life's difficult questions:

Am I the type of girl that can pull off jeggings?

It's been an intense internal turmoil, because I am against skinny jeans and leggings on principle. Mostly, because I'm not skinny. However, I do have some long sweaters and high boots. It would be nice to have a pair to wear with high boots. Then at Kohl's one day, on a total whim, I picked up a pair. I wore them once. (under my Halloween costume as an extra layer for warmth when running around the city.)

And they have totally disappeared.

They are: Not in the laundry room. Not in the hamper. Not in any of my dresser drawers. Not on any of the closet shelves. Not accidently mixed in my gym bag. Not under the bed.

It seems the universe has spoken.

Favorite Things

I'm linking up to the favorite things blog.

Here's a few of mine:

It's the only picture I can find, but that bag. It's a roomy slouchy over the shoulder kind of purse that my sister brought back from Ghana and I LOVE it. (the adorable baby in this picture is one of my favorite kiddos too).

This is the shower gel but I use the same scent of grapefruit shampoo from Whole Foods. It smells sooooooooooooooooooooo good.

Definitely my favorite candy.

Another favorite. Reminds me of my mom and sister.

My favorite kind of toothpaste. It just tastes really fresh,

Oh my goodness.... Even after all of these years... And even considering that we get along fine 95% of the time.... No one can push my buttons like Isaac's dad.... He really brings out the very worst side of me. When I interact with him I am at best a nag and at worst an overprotective, maniacal shrew. I know that I need to be in better control of my emotions, if nothing else than for Isaac's sake. But MAN does he make me want to kick him in the nuts. Grr...

No wiww today. I spent Friday/Saturday/Sunday in bed hopped up on Vicodin due to dental issues, so yoga pants and sweatpants were the outfit of choice. Maybe next week. In it's place I will leave you with a nearly perfect mashup. DJ Earworm is the one that does all those cool Top 25 pop mashups.

"People will pay you to be inhumane"

Getting my tooth pulled next Tuesday. Looking forward to only ROUTINE visits to the dentist after that...

I love postsecret

Saturday 9

I love a good blog meme and I stumbled across this one. 1. Who was the last person who entered your life and was just what you needed? A kind nurse yesterday at the oral surgeon. I was FREAKING out and she was patient with me, and reassured me. 2. What is one of your fondest childhood memories? My dad pushing us kids on this giant swing he had made for us in a big walnut tree in our back yard. I remember going so high that he would have to jump up to push us. Also going for long bike rides in our neighborhood with my dad. He worked extremely long hours when we were kids and any special time we got with him was a treat. 3. What would you like to be doing in 7 years? I would love to be mothering more children. Ideally I would be married and have more of my own biological children, but if not, I would could see myself doing foster care or maybe even adopting one. Who knows? I enjoy being a teacher and that is a huge part of who I am, but I was born to be a mother. 4. Tell us about a blogging pet peeve. The only thing that comes to mind right away is when people have music on their blogs that starts right away. That would be annoying enough by itself but then when the player is hidden somewhere down at the bottom of the blog and you have to search for it to turn the music off. I also dislike patterned backgrounds behind the text. Too hard to read. 5. Tell us about a general pet peeve. Well besides this one I shared the other day.... I would have to say cell phone ettiquette. We are all guilty from time to time of course. But the bottom line is it's rude. Texting during movies in the theater is rude. Texting when you are at the dinner table is rude. Texting on a date is rude. Texting during a meeting is rude (especially when there are parents present, come on unnamed colleagues/supervisors!). There was a pretty extreme example in the local news the other day (after a bullied student in a neighboring school district killed himself, parents attended a school board meeting to voice their concerns and the school board members were texting during people's tearful and outraged comments. Here's a link) 6. For one day, who would you like to trade places with? Hmm, I would like to be a guy for a day I think. Just to get that opposite perspective. (Just for a day though, not for forever. I'm very happy being a girl!) 7. Where is your least favorite place to be? Oh gosh: the DMV, my old dentist where they used this super painful waterpic thingy to clean your teeth, a meeting with an angry parent, the zoo on a hot day, Chuck E Cheese on a rainy Saturday, anywhere where I am forced to breathe cigarette smoke... 8. What do you like about fall? Everything! I love fall wardrobe staples - sweaters, boots, tights, scarves. I love back to school excitement and school supplies. I love decorating my house for fall. I love pumpkins and gourds. I love roadside farm stands, especially the ones near my parents house with little barefoot Amish kids running around. My birthday is in the fall. I love Thanksgiving. I love that I live in a place where I am surrounded with breathtaking beauty as the trees change colors. I love bonfires. I love a cool, crisp feeling in the air. 9. If you or someone you know are chronically late, do you believe it's the result of poor planning or choosing to be late? Oh gosh, I don't think I am chronically late, but I am definitely not chronically on time either. For me it is often the result of poor planning. Even though Isaac is five, I still sometimes underestimate the fact that it can take so long to get out the door. When it is just me going somewhere I can be ready to leave the house in no time, but when we are going together there is (sometimes) a long process of convincing Isaac to go period, locating lost shoes and missing socks, arguing about whether or not a jacket is needed, etc. If I am meeting someone and I am running late, I always call or text them to let them know too. As for others, I don't know. I have a girlfriend who is chronically late (like, almost always showed up a half hour late whenever we were meeting up) and it would make me SO ANGRY. She rarely called to let you know she was running late and it is just known among our circle of friends that if you want this girl to show up on time, you better tell her it begins a half hour earlier than it really does. It really started to affect our friendship because I began to feel that she felt her time was more important than mine was. Anyways, I am off to get ready for some shopping and a nice family dinner. Enjoy your weekend!

Thursday night your stockings needed mending...

It feels like a while since I have had a real everyday kinda post. There isn't too much to say. Life keeps plugging along. For the most part, everything is going well, which is a relief, but doesn't make for exciting blog material. Sunday I drove all the way out to the Northeast to hear Elder Cristofferson, a member of the 12, who was doing a special young single adult fireside (which was suspiciously filled with old people, and tons of kids, but whatever). One part of his address which stuck out to me was he spoke about how President Monson has always been an apostle of compassion and how we should in our own ways become apostles of compassion. He said "Don't worry that you can't do it all for everyone, don't hold back on what you can do, do what you can and that is enough." (Except probably not in a run-on sentence like that, but that is what I had in my notes). That remark pierced me because I have been thinking about that kind of stuff so much lately. He also gave a special blessing on the saints in this area which included (among other things) a greater capacity to do good, and a blessing that we would always have food on the table whatever may come, with enough for our needs and some to share to help others. I found both of those promises to be very comforting. Isaac declared the other morning that "I just love kindergarten!". His teacher is very creative and nice and she seems like a singer! Isaac will often burst into an adorable song that he has picked up there. He seems to be doing a little better socially in kindergarten than he did in pre-K. We have conferences just before Thanksgiving break, and I am really looking forward to it. He is starting to recognize sight words and try to sound out and spell words which is so exciting. I was a pretty reserved child and reading was a huge part of my childhood. I hope Isaac loves reading as much as I do. It's almost my birthday. I will 29 years old, which is pretty crazy. As per usual, I will work a 12 plus hour day on my birthday due to parent conferences. Boooo. We are also doing a family dinner and hopefully I will get to do fun stuff with friends too. We'll see. It's my last year in my 20s, so I feel like I should really do it up, although I keep hearing 30 is the new 20. I guess we will see. We both had dentist appointments today. Isaac did very well and had no cavities. The dentist did remark that he has the largest set of baby teeth she has ever seen. The other dentist in the practice (who is actually her husband) said the same thing last time around. Isaac inherited all my super weird physical traits, like freakishly colossal cuspids. It was super cute too when dentist asked his name he said "Isaac: I-S-A-A-C". It's sad that at five he already understands that most people have no clue how to spell his name and that he better just get it out of the way and give people the correct spelling right off the bat. Anyways, my dental prognosis was not so good. The tooth that has been killing me since June was officially declared an absessed tooth worthy of a root canal by a specialist. So I'm totally looking forward to that -- NOT. Anyways, I don't have much more to say. Hope things are well for you. If you are reading this, leave a comment. What's new where you are?

bam

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have.

--Dale Carnegie

Chilly Saturday

It's not a payday weekend. And Isaac and I found ourselves pretty bored with nothing to do. It's easy to think of free/cheap stuff to do when it's nice out, but it's definitely more of a challenge to keep from going stir-crazy when the temperatures begin to drop. So I got out the bike rack, bundled us up and headed back to our old stomping grounds to do the bike trail. Now that Isaac is a whiz at the two wheeler, I thought it would be fun to take him to an endless paved trail where he wouldn't have to worry about watching for cars. Once we got there I realized it was actually quite a bit colder than I had thought. Isaac was a good sport though and off we went.

Doing pretty well on his two-wheeler.

We took a break on the swings.

Taking a picture of yourself on your cellphone while riding a bicycle is not as easy at you would think.

I sure miss my old neighborhood where we had a variety of bike trails available at our fingertips.

Poor kid had to really keep his little legs pumping to try to keep up. It's hard on a one speed bicycle.

Obligatory Halloween Blog Post

Here's my handsome Buzz Lightyear. My mom bought him a really nice Iron Man costume back in, like, early September, but when Halloween finally rolled around his insisted on wearing this old outgrown Buzz Lightyear costume we had in the toy closet (sorry Mom). It worked though. We stopped by several of my coworkers houses and did about 1/2 of my neighborhood. I left a bowl of candy out on the porch and when I came home it was totally empty. My neighbor said she had 118 kids come by her house. Last year it was pouring rain and we only had a few kids, so I didn't know what to expect. New hair color Highlighting my hair was getting expensive, and boring. I decided to go for a darker do that will hopefully be less maintanence. It's not all the way as dark as my natural color (which is super dark brown and really drab) but it's a step in the right direction.

Started with this one, then realized *DUH* I should take my sunglasses off my head.

Overall much darker but still some sort of lighter coppery highlights to break it up. I'm happy with it, which I feel like never happens when I go darker. I'm also incapable of taking a picture of myself where I am making a normal facial expression. Random Productivity

Today Isaac's school district had an inservice day because they use some of the elementary buildings for polling. I took a sick day and we had a lovely day together. We packed away all of the Halloween things (including some clearance stuff I found at Target for next year that is SUPERCUTE), voted, did some errands that have been hanging around on my to-do list forever, talked to my aunt on the phone, got my flu shot, squeezed in a game of bowling (we had a coupon for a free game and as usual Isaac totally beat me), raked swept the kitchen floor , baked some cupcakes and Zumba'd. I even squeezed in some time for some crafting, which felt very overdue.

I finally finished this little pillow:

I started it about a month ago and I was worried it would be winter by the time I finished it. I just followed this tutorial pretty much exactly. Next time I think I would use a lighter thread and probably a zig-zag stitch but I am happy with how it turned out.

I can't think of much else to write about. Happy November everyone!

"irregardless"

The behavior consultant I work with uses that word all the time and it makes my skin crawl. According to Wikipedia: Irregardless is an informal term commonly used in place of regardless or irrespective, which has caused controversy since it first appeared in the early twentieth century. Most dictionaries list it as "nonstandard" or "incorrect". The pre-fix "ir" is a negative like "irrational" or "irresponsible". Therefore "irregardless" would be a double negative and make no sense. GAH.