Two, and three.

Man, how did the week go by so fast? Just a moment ago I was having a case of Mondayitis that was NOT being solved by coffee (I think I got up to eight cups that day). Now it's (almost) Friday and a weekend full of fun Halloween festivities are about to begin, starting with a 6 a.m. costume run tomorrow morning. I'm going as a middle-aged female biker who has had a middle-aged crisis and bought herself a fancy bike and a few tattoos. Here's my pretend bike: I even have a fake tattoo sleeve. It looks kind of odd juxtaposed with my real tattoos, but it's fun. Damm is going as Gru (from Despicable Me ), the Orclette is a bundled-up fairy and the Miniorc as a bundled-up knight. It finally got cold on us, hence my mentioning the bundled-upness. It's going to be a fun run (cue resigned voice). I remember my parents and grandparents doing early morning runs and activities on holidays/celebrations. Now it's our turn to create memories (muahaha!). Then we have a Harvest ...

I'm thinking orange. Orange pumpkins, orange candles, orange foliage. Mixed in with a few other fall colors, of course. Rather than jump immediately into Christmas-planning mode (like I usually do) I've been mustering up enthusiasm for Thanksgiving, and even in some measure Halloween. I do not celebrate Halloween because I am not enthused about the origins of that particular celebration but we do participate in festivities if they are kid-friendly. For instance, this year Damm and the Orclette will be participating in the ROTC Halloween Run dressed as (we're thinking) Dorothy and the Tin Man/Straw Man. It'll be awesome. Speaking of the Orclette, I had a moment yesterday that I was strongly tempted to say "Why can't you just be more like Miniorc!" I didn't say it, in case you were curious. What had happened was that she and I were in the bathroom getting ready for bed and Miniorc and Damm were already asleep (bathroom connects to bedroom). She was sing...

This past weekend we went to an air show at Holloman Air Force Base. The Miniorc in particular ADORES planes and the Orclette is also fascinated by them. It was perfect weather: crisp and cold and clear (although we didn't dress the kiddos warm enough, we just aren't used to the cold weather yet. Some of the adults had to go without their jackets:) Some of us weren't quite awake. Others were armed with their planes and were ready to go. Experiencing one of the static displays. I had fun too, although the face-painting lady looked at me oddly when I asked to have my cheek painted. Paid my two dollars and I see no reason why adults can't do silly things like paint their faces. I didn't take any pictures of the kiddos during the aerial displays. We were having too much fun pointing out the planes. Miniorc, after watching the first display, turned his face to me, pointed at the airplane, and very firmly said "mine!". It was awesomely funny. Afterwards, as we w...

(Is me) For my mythology class: project on various archetypes in different cultures. For example: Creation/Origin myths, the Flood archetype, the Great Goddess etc. I'm researching Judaism, which has been fairly smooth sailing so far. The only issue I've had is reducing my focus to just the Torah. I've always read those first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as part of a greater whole and it's been interesting to shift my viewpoint to the Torah/Tanakh. For my Latin American class I'm reviewing for the midterm. One essay, which I'll be writing at home, and short definitions to be written in class. Thirty options for the short definitions given on the review sheet, professor will give eighteen to choose from, I choose ten to write about. Ask me anything about the various independence movements and political infighting. Hurry though, data dump will commence after the midterm on Monday. For my terrorism class: nothing, really. The ...

Last week the Orclette and I were talking about how our ancestors had to use candle for light (during our school session) and I had the brilliant idea of researching how candles are made. We hopped onto YouTube (my kids love watching videos) and watched a couple of demonstrations. It looked easy so we made a trip to Hobby Lobby to pick up candle-making supplies. Here are the results of our adventure: The Orclette helping me. One candle vase was a girl and the other was a boy and they lived happily ever after. The Miniorc was "opening" everything with his screwdriver. Prepping the gel candles. I really like having the marbles at the bottom of the glass. We went with the orange dye. And ta-da! Two new candles to go on my mantle (the ones on the sides). Anyway, I was describing out adventures to a classmate (or was it a co-worker? my days are all jumbled) and she exclaimed "You're like one of those blogger moms!" So I figured I'd better blog about thi...

You know it's going to be an interesting morning when, after you drink an energy drink, you have moved from the How did I end up in the kitchen stage? to Man, I think I need some coffee stage. Have a great morning!

Read the following. Was I neutral enough? Nice enough? Too nice? I didn't bother complaining at the store; usually the peons can do nothing and it wasn't their fault in the first place (I jokingly refer to myself as a peon as well so no offence is meant by that word). To Whom It May Concern, I recently left one of my purchased bags at Store #5155 (Store Manager Anthony Martinez). Within the hour I returned for my items only to find out that they had already been put back onto the shelf. From my conversation with the employee at the Customer Service desk it seemed that this was a store policy and not an individual blunder. While it was my negligence that caused the situation in the first place it also was, in my opinion, an egregious lack of customer service. It would be a courtesy to keep purchased, non-perishable items at Customer Service for at least a few hours before returning them to the shelf (and necessitating the customer to shop for those items once again in order not ...