Halloween Ends....Let The Games Begin

I was a sexy Goth girl for Halloween and my husband was the biker guy tatted up beyond belief. He picked out his own costume this year and was pretty proud of him. Secretly, I must have a little bad girl inside of me because I thoroughly enjoyed wearing knee high black boots and fishnet stockings with long leather gloves and freaky hair. Something must be wrong with me, or something just woke up?! LOL!
My children have become more creative when it comes to costumes due to the lack of television personalities that are aloud to enter our home, so Mummy, Rocker Girl, Zorro, and a Special were conjured up tonight. They all looked great. Christian had to skip out of Halloween tonight to play his last regular game of football. Yes, it sucked for him, but all the parents of the team chipped in and they still made a good candy haul. Somehow, I think he'll survive.
Now on for the games...NANOWRIMO games that is. Tomorrow the novel writing begins and normal life ends. Not only do I have to write 1667 words a day for the next month, but I have to still have a normal life and teach a Super Saturday craft in two weeks, and make 60 gifts for Relief Society and make ornaments for my Christmas tree. I've hatched a seemingly impossible plan! Not only will my laptop follow me everywhere, but I have to bake "cookies" for my tree, paint and glue baubles, embroider mangers and paint frames, but I also have to care for my 5 children, keep the house in order and make all the Christmas gifts. Yes you heard me right. I am making everything this year. The only stuff that isn't homemade is the gifts coming from Santa and the stocking stuffers. Am I nuts? Yes...Nuts@!! But mark my words, I will do it if it kills me. Because not only is it cheaper, but I think I'm pretty good at it too. Who needs another Obama Chia Pet anyway right? I can't really list my gifts for fear that those who will be receiving them will find out but lets just say that all my "talents" will get used. So on your mark...get set...GOOOO!

It's Raining, It's Pouring, The Old Lady is Snoring...

...not really. I don't snore. Even if I am really tired. Which I have been lately, what is up? Is it the change in the weather? Maybe this lack of motivation is the result of not exercising for 3 weeks straight and the consumption of large amounts of snack food? Regardless of my energy level, I got alot done in the last week. Bought a 1993 Eurovan for $2500 cash, took the little boys to the pumpkin patch down the road, went to Costco, searched out supplies for a Super Saturday craft that I am in charge of, got everyone to their respective activities, fed everyone, attempted to get the laundry done, went to a Dave Ramsey event on Saturday that lasted 5 hours, went swing dancing, went to a movie with my Man...Julie and Julia. Sounds like alot of things, but the things that I didn't get done hound me like a starving dog at my ankles.
Today, I have to plan a soccer team party, research the cheapest place to get 4 cats fixed, find parts for Super Saturday craft, take kids to dance and football, make dinner, get boys signed up for basketball, go track down the owner of my girls dance studio and get her to hire me for a sub/teen teacher (I was recruited...begged), and that is just today. My list is 31 items long of things that are major that have to get done in the next few weeks. Some of these things are important like get my social security card replaced. I haven't had a valid drivers license for 1 1/2 years. Not only did my social security card get stolen so I have to get another one, but when we lived in Hillsboro, our address was DICK ROAD...not keeping that one on my license for 8-12 yrs!!! See what happens when you have ADD!! Everything that organized people get done with a simple phone call, gets pushed aside, piles up and then it overwhelms you to the point that you would rather sleep than get anything productive done. You decide to make crafts and watch TV rather than tackle that elephant. So I made a list in the boring Gospel Doctrine class in church yesterday instead of listening to the lesson. Sorry Brother So and So. I've been in your shoes and sometimes it's just boring. I think God will forgive me. At least I got something productive done while not being distracted with my life. Does anyone ever feel like this? Or am I the only crazy person.....

Mondays...

Extreme Makeover Home Addition is my guilty Monday pleasure. It starts my week off right by remembering how blessed I am. Crying my eyes out sounds like fun first thing Monday morning doesn't it? Well, it works for me. Right now I'm eating homemade Whole Wheat Oatmeal Crackers that are just yummy. Last night, my family couldn't decide what was better, the Carmel Apple Crisp or these crackers. This leads me to wonder when did we become so dependent on the supermarket shelves? My crackers didn't have anything in them I couldn't pronounce or chemically processed up the ying yang. I fully recoginize that it takes tons more time to make everything by scratch and some of you just don't have the time. (Literally took 20 minutes to mix and bake 2 pans of crackers...less time than it would have taken me to go to the store.) But I do have the time. So instead of instant oatmeal from the store, I made my own last night...24 bags of Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Packets. And now I'm off to the pumpkin patch to buy real pumpkins and cook them so I can have frozen pumpkin puree in my freezer. You never know when a craving for Pumpkin Chocolate Chips cookies will strike and I have it on good authority that Safeway's supply of Pumpkin puree is going to be severly lacking this year due to some supply issue. So there you have it peeps. Fall is underway and the baker in me is coming out full swing.

Didn't I Do This Before?

When I was a teenager, I had perfect skin. Not a blemish to be had. It infuriated my friends. Well not anymore friends. This low maintenance girl actually had to buy some kind of facial cleanser, something with salylic acid in it? I feel like a teenager again. Adult onset acne. It's not bad...just bad for me. Could it be stress related? Probably. What isn't? Maybe it's because I feel like it's my senior year all over again. You heard me right. I feel like a senior because I started filling out a college application today.

The future isn't going away. So I might as well embrace it and let go of my fear. (How am I going to pay for this? Can Evan handle preschool every morning? Will my family be supportive? Can I remember how to do Chemistry?) After deliberating for almost a year, I have finally bit the bullet. Did you know that I was PreMed when I went to college? Kinda irks me when people ask if Kevin was smart (referring to my gifted kids) and I always am a little taken aback. "Me is smart too!" (said in a white trash accent) Yes it's true...I'm totally a nerd. Was in the TAG program, Honor Roll, etc. I was even teachers pet a time or two. It used to really tick off my roommates in college that I didn't have to cram for tests and still get an A.... Sorry for the tangent.

It's been quite the hairy little process to get me back to where I started and do what is in my blood. This girl is going back into Psychology. Going to finish my Bachelors. With that, I can't nail down what I want to do, but either I become a Naturopathic Doctor or a Doctorate in Psychology. Both are feasible and possible. Either way, someday, I will be a Doctor of something. Here's to the long road ahead. Here's to listening to Spirit even if it's really scary. (Note to self: don't question the Spirit. He will haunt you until you get it done...)

Canning

So I know it doesn't look all that impressive and it isn't organized like I want, but this is my pantry. Well at least it's one half of my pantry. What have I been doing lately? Isn't it obvious? When a batch of tomatoes ripens, I drag out the canner. When the peaches were at there peak? I dragged the canner out. After I picked raspberries? I dragged out the canner once again. We were lacking an apple tree to get free fruit off of this year, so I purchased a bushel off of a roadside stand on my way to McMinnville to buy the last Juicer/Steamer on the continental USA or so it seemed. So in between coring, peeling, and cooking apples, I steamed grapes for juice. I thought I might get a couple dozen quarts out of the vines at our house, tops. But what I realized is that I am poor judge of amounts. After canning 44 quarts of white grape juice and 10 quarts of concord grape juice, I took back my kitchen. 17 quarts of applesauce, 7 half pints of apple jelly (which is really apple syrup since I forgot to add pectin but it still tastes divine) and 54 quarts of juice, I think I need a little break...like eat a whole package of cookies break...like drop a bomb in the kitchen rather than do the dishes break...like just go buy new drip pans for the stove instead of scrubbing off the burnt on fruit sugar break....

But alas, we have grapes growing on the deck and over the trellis that still need to be picked....so in reality, I still have more to do. Hazelnuts to roast, grapes to pick and jelly to make. Don't get me wrong, I love fall. I love canning, so much so that my canner is starting to peel off it's impervious coating from the bottom...but part of me is doing this because I cannot stand seeing things go to waste. It makes me vomit a little in my mouth. All these luscious apple trees around my community with their windfall fruit circling around their roots, makes me want to cry. So if you hear of a lady who died from mushroom poisoning, that would be me. I think I am going to go out to the forest and forage for the little poisonous buggers just so I can feel like nothing is going to waste...did I mention that I have 2 huge crabapple trees that are calling my name?...Somebody save me from my insanity!!!!!