pika pika!

happy halloween!

my "artwork" - paired with mm's wicked carving skills. not our best effort, but the kids love it and that is all that matters, folks.

mm gets MAJOR bonus points because we picked out the thickest, most uncooperative pumpkin EVER. he actually used his drill... which i suspect he enjoyed immensely.

i might try to do some more tail detail this afternoon. and what exactly does pikachu have to do with halloween?
still trying to figure that one out...

elf defense

i am so grateful pittsburgh is finally addressing this issue.

i am totally signing up.

damn elves.

a tad bit scary

as halloween approaches, i just uttered a phrase that confirms i am turning into my mother...

"yes, i know, those almond joys are yucky, better just let mommy eat that one."

a tad bit scary.

big girl pants

i was lamenting about my week without mm the other day at gymnastics. he went to nyc to be with his grandma while she had a stent put in. everything went well, and he is home safe and sound. and i did remarkably well, considering mm does a TON around here. more than i ever noticed, actually.

oh and by the way, i got NO sympathy from the gym moms whose husbands travel all the time. no really, thanks girls.

a wise (in more ways than one) mom said, "sometimes, you just have to put on your big girl pants and do your job."

i chuckled and went on my merry way, well, semi-merry way. i was alone with three kids for a LONG time...

since then i have loved using that phrase. on tuesday i put on my "big girl pants" and took care of a flat tire by myself. well, i called aaa, by myself. baby steps, people.

i also took the car and filled the spare tire with air - all with my "big girl pants" on.

today i put on my "big girl pants" and took back the paint that i was very unsatisfied with - that is so not like me...

anyone else had to put on their "big girl pants" lately?

donald and mary

about every week we get some mail for donald and/or mary. our address. our last name. but donald and mary? nope.

we get pre-approved credit cards, offers "too good to miss" - all the standard junk mail.

donald is even a jr. - like there is a donald sr. out there somewhere?

i sometimes wonder - how long we could live as donald and mary? enough time to buy everything our hearts' desire?

if you ever see me sign my name mary, don't ask any questions.
i'll buy you some uggs.

breakfast patterns

g brought home an art paper with patterns...

different colored marshmallows.
green, green, yellow. green, green, yellow.

a whole page.
k just ate them.
all.

fruitless efforts

a few days ago i stopped in to see g at lunchtime. he was drinking a milk AND a juice. i asked him where he got the juice, he said it was "free." and that he always gets one. i was alarmed - had he been taking two drinks all this time? i looked around and several of the other kids had juice also. (and all of them had two straws and were drinking milk and juice at the SAME time, um, gross.)

as i was leaving i casually asked the teacher about the juice...

"do they get to pick out juice? is it free?"
wait for it...

"it counts as a fruit."

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

i went home and checked the menu, the last item says, "choice of fruit." ok, so crazy me was thinking apple slices, or a banana.

at first i was upset, but then relieved, because if juice is a fruit, so are...

fruity pebbles
fruit roll-ups
fruit snacks

whew!

flat samantha

flat samantha came to stay with us for a while.

she came to us from buffalo, new york and is originally from chandler, arizona.


flat samantha had great manners, listened, and was quiet on car rides.

she got along well with others. she didn't make messes.

i will miss her as she travels on to columbus, ohio...

bohemian vibe

one of the moms at our bus stop commented on m's clothes. she said m had a "bohemian vibe"...

i said thanks and walked home.

so - do you think she meant "bohemian vibe" in a...

poor, starving artist, kind of way?

or

gypsy-chic, i don't care what other people are wearing, kind of way?

also - since i am the one choosing the clothes - does that make me bohemian-ish?

if so, i think i secretly might kind of like that. secretly, of course.

this made me chuckle

this is from a friend of a friend of a friend's blog...

AnneMade: The Blog: September Madness, Financial Edition

excellent!

fightin' words

mm said my lego ship was good... for a girl.
them is fightin' words!

pajama mom freakonomics

ok - one of my favorite classes in college was labor economics. i know - snooze. i'll wake you up when i'm finished...

i had a wonderful professor. the class was set up with weekly quizzes. i liked this format much better than the "do-or-die" final exam.

i actually studied. i actually learned. i actually enjoyed the class.

i was also a senior - so i had finally correlated that going to class, taking notes, gets a good grade.

anyhow, i was thinking in the car this morning on the way home, i had no kids with me...

my thinking topic was human capital. and moms. looking at the "labor" involved in the daily activities of moms. basic supply and demand. i could go a little further and determine wage rate and number of people employed. (um, that would be zero and one)

and let's not forget the (budget) constraints. such as time. and whining.

ok - that's about as far as i can go without getting out my notes. but i plan to, soon, and i am going to graph my personal diminishing marginal returns. this is the point where i cannot produce anymore - i.e. total burnout.

i think i might be pretty close. stay tuned for a fancy graph. and who says economics is only good in a "perfect" world?...