Home Sweet Home...

...so the weekend went really well. We went to Southern Indiana to see my side of the family. Left on Friday to go to my Gran's for her Thanksgiving get together. Is anyone else feeling slapped in the face with the harsh reality of their aging grandparents? Of course, I suppose that, at 31 years of age, I'm quite lucky to have a surviving set of grandparents. But they both have been in failing health lately, and the thought that they won't be around for much longer makes me incredibly sad. I'm so very fortunate to have had all this time with them. And I cherish every second I've had. Even the times when, at 24 month, my twins were still nursing and my Gran was down my throat to stop. But they're some of my very favorite people in the world. I love them dearly. Funnily enough, they're really my step-grandparents. But for the last 23 years, they've embraced me as their own. And "Step" is a nasty word in our family. I aspire to be as loving and accepting as they are.

....another set of my favorite people are my brothers. We are closer now than we ever have been. And I love it. I don't think that I can laugh harder with anyone else but them. We stayed up late last night playing cards. As kids, my parents taught us all the card game Spades. As I told Aaron last night, "The best times in the Rayls household were playing Spades. The worst times in the Rayls household were playing Spades." So playing Spades last night was a very funny thing. We were all half-drunk too, which made it even funnier. Especially since I'd not played it in so long that I'd half-forgotten how to play.

...I've realized a lot over the past year of going home. Many of you know that my parents are divorced and that I'm half-estranged from my biological mother. And to this point it's my own choice. My paternal grandmother is another person I'm fairly estranged from. These people are people who've, in the past, made my trips to southern Indiana a trying and stressful time. And for about the past year, I've not really put in time while down in Southern Indiana to see them. And for about the past year or so, my time in Southern Indiana has brought me a lot of fun memories. I still wrestle with the fact that I've alienated myself from these people, but I will not regret the times that I've had over the past year. I've connected with family who loves me without any craziness attached. Instead of feeling mentally drained, I feel the happy-tired that comes with spending late nights laughing and having a good time with family. I just wish that I could still the small voice in my head that nags at me for being selfish about my time.

Black Friday....

....Someone remind me that if I talk about going shopping on Black Friday that I'm nuts. I went by myself this year. No fun at all. I got some stuff for the kids, and a few things for myself. But am still debating on whether it was worth the madness. *sigh*

....Hope all of you had a good Thanksgiving. We had a very relaxing day yesterday, and for that I am truly thankful. The twins woke up fairly early, so I got up with them and got them breakfast. Then we watched back-to-back episodes of Tom and Jerry. I snuggled with the twins for the bulk of the morning, only getting up off the sofa when it was time to head to Aaron's parents' house. Then we ate ourselves into an oblivion. I took a two hour nap on the sofa! And when I got up, we played Trivial Persuit, the 80's version. Being a CHILD in the 80's made the game a bit more difficult! Aaron's dad was loving it, though.

....Today we're heading down to Thanksgiving with my side of the family. Tonight we will have our celebration with my Gran and Grandad. The cousin who got married in October will be there. Am happy to get to spend time with them, as I don't really know his new wife all that well. And, of course, I will get to spend time with my baby brothers, with whom the time spent together is more and more fun.

..... go give Katie some love. I hear there was an incident with some sweet potatoes that mangled her foot up a bit.

Happy Day....

....not sure why. Just am. A bullet-list of good things:

• kids were decent this morning, aside from a bit of a throw down on Griff's part for not wanting to carry canned goods in his backpack for PJ day at school.
• the sun's shining
• THE DISHWASHER'S FIXED!!!!
• belly full of Campbell's Chunky (low cost! low calories! low fat!)
• work's plugging along
• twins are testing for their yellow belt in karate tonight
• my handmade presents are done, but I still have ideas on little extras to make to supplement...gotta love that people online share stuff. so very cool.

Happy Tuesday!

(we'll resume with the bitching and moaning on a different day... for now... just go with my manic mood!)

Whew...

...a good morning with the twins. Of course, now that I've actually put it into words, I'll get another email, saying that something went very wrong at school.

...Aaron put the camper in the back yard by our shed and cleaned out the garage yesterday. He parked the car (MY CAR) in the garage last night. I told him that the van (HIS VAN) was bigger and had more area to scrape and took longer to heat up, so he should park in there, but alas. He's nice like that and gave me the spot. The twins couldn't have been happier. They were so excited to be able to get into the car so quickly. They were so happy to get into the car this morning that they left their backpacks in the kitchen. But they were in the car without a fight, so I schlepped everything to the car.

...Colts squeaked out another victory! Yay! I missed the last quarter, as I was snuggled under two comforters. Is colder than crap in my living room....we're replacing the door. To the tune of $1,300! OUCH!

...Have packed my lunch today. My family got a big laugh out of my efforts to make tuna salad last night. You guys know that Aaron does most of the cooking around our house. He gets off much earlier than I do. And he's better at it than me. Case in point. I have a hard time getting eggs to hard-boil. There have been many egg yolks that made their way to the disposal because they weren't completely cooked in the center. Well, last night, they cooked alright. I cooked them so long (having forgotten that they were on the stove...heh) that one of the shells on the eggs cracked. Hey! They're cooked through! Then I go to make tuna salad, and grab one of those disposable gladware containers. We buy deli meat that has them, and they make great leftover dishes and lunch dishes. Well, I would grab the ONLY one that doesn't have a lid that fits it. I dirtied up two before Collin (who does dishes) and Aaron laughed at me over it. hmpf.

A Girlie Night Out, Crafting, Momma Redemption...

you've been forewarned that this is one big-ass post! go grab some liquid refreshment....

....ok. So the movie? Um, how to put nicely? I had very low expectations of this movie. I knew that it would be nothing of what I had in my head. And I was ok with that. What I didn't expect if for my expectations to not be met at all. They didn't even MEET them. Oy. And I won't ruin the fun of anyone who wants to go by creating a bullet-list of things that just didn't do it for me. But it just didn't. So Nay and I did what many other people were doing throughout the movie. We made incessant fun of it. And what's nice is that Nay hated as much as me. And the people around us hated it as much as we did, so they didn't mind my gymnasium voice (and I was sober!) giving commentary. I heard chuckles out of some of the stuff I said. And about half-way through the carnage, I kept whispering to Nay that we were going to go have beer, scotch and cigars to even things out again. The boys (yes, boys!) behind us really got a snigger out of the cigar bit. Is ok, so does anyone else who's seen me smoke one.

....ANYWAY, so we head out after the movie is done, and go see about a drink and some dinner. So we head to the bar that is our current replacement for our old bar. The one with karaoke. In my head, I thought that perhaps we might be jumping from the frying pan into the fire, but, remaining optimistic, we head for the door. We hear the music before we get to the doorstep and we look at eachother and cringe. Surely they wouldn't have TWO nights of karaoke? We timidly go in, knowing that the experience is going to be far louder than we wished. But damn it...we don't go out much just the two of us, so we were going to make the best of it! So we sit down and look at eachother. We order our drinks and food. And then the singing starts. Lo and behold, it isn't karaoke. No. It's WORSE! One of the dudes who sings karaoke (not that he's not a bad singer, mind you....) was using the canned karaoke music and was like a paid act. So, needless to say, in the efforts to not have to listen to any more Shania Twain (oh, he was singing with a chick) or songs like Disco Inferno, we were out as soon as we finished our food and drinks.

.....So, update regarding Homemade Gift Exchange. It turns out that the twins' fit was a bit of a blessing (not that am thanking them for it... little jerky-turkeys!) on my wallet, because I was able to stave off having to buy extra stash for the gift projects I've got going on. I was able to come up with cuteness (I hope, at least!) without having to buy more stuff. And, Judy has said that this is the reason for doing this. We're using our stash to make really cute stuff for our friends. I have never been disappointed in the two years we've been doing this! So, we'll see ladies. I hope that you like it (see...Rebecca and I are HORRIBLE self-doubters...so we're going to be on pins and needles until we exchange).

....Oh, and, to make up for the fact that I feel like all I do is nag my children, this morning I got up and the first thing I did was to help Erin make a fuse-bead star. She gets to do the fun part of putting the little peggy things on the form. I get the loverly job of finding whatever random color she wants. And they're usually random enough for me to have to hunt pretty hard for them! We ran out of sparkly purple. Seriously ran out (not sure where all the aforementioned fuse-beads came from, but they're a hodge-podge of several packs....I do believe I have my mother-in-law or sister-in-law to thank for this....). But we had a good time, and no screaming was involved. And I'll be damned if I didn't get pictoral evidence of it.... dag it!

Feeling a Little Better....

.....so let me just say that if I ever do a runner, Marie Osmond won't have ANYTHING on me. No one will find me.

....but for the moment, I shall remain around to see if I can't screw my kids up any further.

.....this evening will find me at the movie theater by me with my friend Nay, watching Twilight (stop cringing, Katie! *winks*). The funniest bit about this is that both Nay and I are about as far from "girlie-girls" as you could possibly be. Yet, here we're going to see a chick-flick-if-there-ever-was-one movie. We both want to see the movie, but we're also really afraid that we'll hate it, as we both have these notions in our heads of what Edward and Bella will be. And they already don't fit in with what little we've seen in the movie.

....in keeping with my girlie-girl day, I'm working on my homemade gift exchange presents for Stephenie, Judy, Rebecca, and Katie. They're all four going to be the same, and I've spent time picking out the color schemes for them. Has been a process for me, as I still haven't found my crafting mojo. So...if anyone sees it running around, tell it to come home to mamma. She really misses it! Oh, and girls? For once, it won't be anything that closely resembles a calendar. *winks*

....So now am off to Wal-Mart and Michael's to see if I can't get some more supplies for this project. Wish me luck!


ETA: if my friends should happen to not receive gifts this year, it will be at the fault of the Gruesome Twosome, so aptly named for their prowess in making my life a living hell. TAKE THAT MOMOF4!!!!! (Katie will know whom I'm referring to) I shall be staying at home until Aaron returns because my kids can't make it out to the car without kicking one another. Am sure that homocides would result upon our return should I take them anywhere where I can't beat them in public. Suppose I could have gone to Wal-Mart anyway. Right then, am going to exchange my can diet Cherry Coke for a bottle of Coors Light.

Wallowing In Self-Pity....

....feeling like a loser mother right now. If I do a runner, you'll find me in someplace warm. Hope you guys are all having a much better day than me.

....have a good weekend!

I Take It Back....

... must be world's worst mom... have a read to the email I received today.....



He is doing a better job at not crying! But this week has been challenging for him and he went "red" today. I talked to him and he sat away from the group to think about it. He knows I'm emailing you, and he knew he had "bad behavior" as he said, so that's why he sat out.

He started by cutting another student's folder after she took the "purple" glue that he wanted. Then when I confronted him to apologize, he first said it was b/c she did the same thing. I asked him to show me and then tell the truth, so that is when the glue thing arose and said she did not cut his folder. Then during calendar he pulled the yellow tape I have down for lines off the carpet. We talked again why it was there and how it hurts my feelings when he ruins something of mine.

I told him that I knew that he was going to turn things around for tomorrow because he has been so good until this week, and that he will have a fresh start. And through all this, no tears which is great. I think he knew his actions were inappropriate and will be very responsible in the morning.


"Metal Health" by Quiet Riot, anyone?

Follow Up....

....Thanks to everyone who had encouraging and insightful words for me yesterday. I appreciate it. I'm wondering if I need to change up the routine a little in the morning. Trying to get myself completely ready before the twins wake up seems to be an impossibility. They wake up as I get up. BUT, this morning? Griffin got up at his regular butt-crack-of-dawn hour. And accidentally piddled on himself when he went to the bathroom (such a dude!). He got dressed before he ate. And let me tell you. The morning was a breeze compared to what it usually is. We only had one Griffin/Erin tussle.

... And now... a bullet list of things I was able to accomplish because I didn't need to have a show-down with Griffin:

• sorted our laundry mound....sheesh. Can't even imagine how Katie does it with two more bodies to add to the list!
• ran two loads of laundry through the washing machine
• put away all the dishes that Collin had to hand wash last night.
• loaded the dishwasher in the hopes that all the cleaning stuff will do it's magic and we'll be able to have clean dishes sans dishpan hands.
• put on make-up!

Oh, and Nana? BRING IT! *winks* I do so love me some Nana Cupcakes... Nana Cakes... Nana ANYTHING!

Downtrodden....

...ok, so that endorphine high lasted for about 10 hours. A bullet list of things wrong:

• Griffin has decided he can't do anything on his own in the morning, reducing all of us to yelling and screaming, and eventually tears. On Monday, after the carnage that is getting the twins ready in the morning, I had a part of the song "Voices" by Disturbed rolling through my head. Good times.
• My dishwasher is still on the fritz. My dishes are nearly as dirty when they come out of the damn thing as when they go in. Is starting to really piss me off.
• I got to hang out on Keystone Ave for a bit this morning in very slow traffice.

....so, to not be a total miserable shit, I will say something good. Last night, I broke a couple of boards in class. The orange one and the black one. Was great fun. I broke my first board last week in class. Nervous about it, I chose the weenie yellow one. Was able to break it fairly easily. Went for the orange one next. The assistant sensei decided to mess with me and waited until I was geared up and then moved the board on me.... jerk. Then he let us at the black board. And I broke that one fairly easily. Was fun.

Hello, My Name Is Stephanie....

...and I'm a full-fledged endorphine junkie. How much better I feel now that I spent one and a half hours of the last two working out! I went to karate tonight and then went to the gym after dropping off Collin. But now I feel great.

And now...a bullet list of other things I was able to accomplish today:

• Go through the mounds of papers accumulating in the twins' school folders, purge the papers, rejoice over good papers, double check on which papers were things that needed to be finished.
• Fill out permission forms and write checks for their field trip to Polar Express. Moan to myself that I'll not be able to go with the twins like I did for Collin. Seriously, this is yet another time I wish they were in the same part of the day as far as KG goes. Otherwise, 'tis no big deal. Logistically, the Polar Express just ain't gonna happen. *pouts*
• Get Griffin out of the funk that being abandoned by Collin (who is so very sweetly playing with him lately) put him in. I don't blame Collin for wanting to spend a few minutes with his own friends. It's yucky, but I lick his nose to make him laugh. Is quite cute...to me. And was even funnier when he started doing it to me on Sunday to make me laugh.
• Stay inside the office building the entire day. I did have McD's for lunch....Big Macs tend to help the downhearted Steph!
• Oh, and last, but certainly not least, I am working as guinea pig broker between Nain and Judy. I think we might have a match, folks! You see, Noah, Judy's son, wants to get a guinea pig. Nain, as you know, used to run a guinea pig mill out of her two bedroom apartment. Nain is growing weary of raising guinea pigs (although she was able to stop the breeding madness).... so bada-bing, bada-boom.... Noah will meet the guineas on Thursday night to see if he would definitely like to keep them for his very own. Methinks that Judy's husband might not like me anymore......

Anyway, am off to stretch and clean my stinky, sweaty body. 'Night all!

Bah...

...am in a bummed out mood today. Not sure why. Just am.

...Collin's dinner celebration turned into a comedy of errors. It was so bad, that Aaron, who runs like the wind from confrontation, actually said something. Dinner was free. The restaurant had peanuts and Coors Light on draught. So all's not lost. And Collin had a good birthday, so that's all that matters.

...Is FRIGID outside today. And I still have yet to dig out gloves or go buy new from the store. Am horrible mother. No wonder my kids mutiny every morning.....

12?! Are You Kidding Me?!

....Happy Birthday to Collin, who turns 12 today. Is so very hard to believe that he's getting so big. He's sassy and funny, yet he's sensitive and caring. Am excited to be able to call myself his mama.

....Not sure if I told blogland already, but he's had his present for a month now. He saw on eBay an iPod Nano, with the wider screen and some stupid amount of memory. So, I put in my limit, and we actually won the thing. It has a docking station and everything. He was happy with it. Am I'm happy, too, because he gave me his old Shuffle.

....Tonight we're going to Logan's Steakhouse (Grandma made the mistake of letting Collin choose where he wants to eat....she complained that he'd gotten expensive. Maybe next year she'll let me choose Taco Bell to offset the cost. They all made fun of me when I asked one year. I was told to pick someplace else....). Then I think we're going to Grandma's for cake and presents.

Talkin' 'Bout Vindication....

...ok so a few weeks back, a friend of mine came over to watch football at my house. We all sat around, watching NON-COLTS football, because they played on Monday that week. So, we wound up watching a Dallas Cowboys game. For those of you who are NOT Cowboys fans, you know how easy it is to make fun of them. From the dumb look on Romo's face as the ball's snapped to him, to their uniforms. I started making fun of the powder-blue color of the pants they wear when they wear their white jerseys. The boys, one of whom is supposed to be my friend, and one of whom is supposed to be the love of my life, made fun of me, saying that the color was silver, NOT powder-blue. Now, for those of you who know me, know that I am ANAL RETENTIVE when it comes to colors. Not to be swayed by EVERYONE I TALKED to on the matter, I remained steadfast in my opinion. Even if the world didn't agree with me.

....Fast forward a few weeks. The Colts won their game! Woo hoo! The Titans and the Jags went head-to-head (Jags doing pretty much what Colts did by using all their mojo in the first half and getting beat in the end). And currently, the Cowboys are playing a grudge-match against the Redskins. Well, they're wearing navy blue jerseys tonight. Lo, and behold! Their pants are ACTUALLY SILVER! So, I went back to two of the many friends and told them that the pants they're wearing tonight are truly silver. One of my (former) friends said to look it up online, that surely they wear the same silver pants with both jerseys.

....here's the result. And, while am totally not correct in my powder-blue analysis.... I can change the color to SEAFOAM GREEN! And here's some of the funniest commentary on the Cowboy's uniforms.

I *heart* Times Like These.....

A Nice Time....

...so I spent the day with Collin. He's a really good, sweet, neat boy. All too quickly, he's becoming a young man. He can sit in the front of the car now....am still getting my head around that one. We went up today to watch the karate tournament. It was fun to just hang out and not be totally into the action. Not everyone I usually see was there. They were missed. I found out that one of the highest ranking martial artists that comes to the tournaments is currently in hospice care. He officiated at the last tournament I went to, and was the one who called me out for having "wild and uncontrolled technique." I was shocked to find out that he's been battling pancreatic cancer for about a year now. He will be missed.

...it was nice to just observe today. It gave me confidence to watch the black belt women in action. I won't be the best in the bunch. But I'd hedge my bets that I won't be the worst, either. It gave me cause to keep working hard. The black belt women are a neat, fun, and caring bunch. I look forward to seeing them month after month.

...What's so wonderful about the tournaments are the friendships you make along the way. Even if the tournament circuit isn't run efficiently (or hell...fairly at times), there are some wonderful people that come. You see them grow as martial artists. They celebrate with you on your victories, both on and off the mat. I got so many congratulations today when I told people that I'd gotten my black belt.

....And it was so nice to have my boy-boy there with me. We wound up helping keep score for a few rounds. We didn't see all that we wanted to see, really. But we were together. And we had two hours plus in the car... just the two of us. We talked and laughed. And connected. Love that.

So....

...we're headed to Muncie tomorrow to watch a karate tournament. Should be some fun. Neither Collin nor I am competing in the tournament. We're just going to go and watch. It's fun, because there are people who come to most tournaments. And it's fun to watch them grow as martial artists.

...am feeling at the heighth of motherhood this evening (insert note of sarcasm here). It's Erin's turn to play the biggest jerk in my house right now. I do so love being screamed at by a little girl. Those of you with little girls, especially ones who are as stubborn as my delicate little flower Erin, will totally understand where I'm coming from with that one.

The Concert....

.... so I forgot to update about the concert, in my hungover haze yesterday. It went really well. The kids were amazing, considering they'd only been playing since August. The funniest part, though? It lasted only TWENTY minutes. That's it. In. Out. Done. I hadn't planned on going to karate, but I'd packed my bag in some delusional hope that I would be able to go. Who would have thought that it would only last that long? Crack me up. But I'm proud of my young man. He's worked hard.

...Matt: Collin got the stuff back, so he can give you back what is rightfully yours. Apparently the instrument was in hiding in the storage room. Am doubly thrilled, as we had about 100 bucks worth of crap in that case, too.

...Lynn: yep....I disproved that theorem. And I only had four beers on top of the drink, which isn't unusual for me.

...Nance: good ideas for the vanilla vodka, but am going to stick to beer from here on out.

...Liam: Who doesn't love a good round of "Hotel California"? I would get up and sing that, if I were going to stay around the loud hell-hole of a bar!

....Rebecca: thanks for the well-wishes. I had a Taco Bell feast for lunch and was feeling right as rain after.

Different Bar....

...ok, so my philosophy on going to a bar is that I should be the one making the most noise. (Narcissistic much? I know....) There is a bar down the road from my old bar that has four dollar pitchers on Wednesdays.... the drawback? Karaoke! Um.... no thank you! Part of the allure of going out for me is talking to people. When you have people crooning into the microphone, it's very difficult to carry on a conversation....

...so anyway, I went to a different bar on a different side of town with one of my karate buddies. They don't have Coors Light on draught at this bar! Doh! Should have investigated before agreeing to go there. So I ponder for a minute, and finally tell the bar tender to suggest something for me. He mixes me a vanilla vodka and ginger ale. Was very tasty! And, I sucked it down in 20 mins flat. If that. Knowing that said drink is more expensive than beer, I ordered Miller Light on tap. Is not the same, but is like Mello Yello to the Mountain Dew drinker. Sometimes you just take one for the team. So I have a few... numbers mean nothing! *winks* We play a few rounds of pool, and then wind up going to someone's house for a few rounds at the Wii.

....fast forward to 6:30 this morning, and you will find me horking in my bathroom. I seriously didn't drink that much. I'm blaming the hard alcohol.

*slurps down Mt. Dew and Tylenol*

Bragging....

...cos that's what moms tend to do. Collin has his first band concert tonight! Am excited for him. Will let you know what happens!

Whining....

Bullet list of Complaints:

• I got rid of everything this summer in a bout of purging that didn't fit or I hadn't worn in over a year. Am at risk of freezing because I have no cold weather clothing.
• My hands are so dry that they're almost calloused (sp?) between my fingers. Feel like lizard.
• Am getting cold that my family already had. Thanks for sharing, guys!

What are your main bitches for today? Don't be shy.... leave them in the comments!

Tidbits....

....Message on my newly purchased REPLACEMENT honey mustard bottle, currently in its place in the fridge at work: Feel free to use, but if it doesn't make its way back into the fridge, I will kung fu your ass.


....I had a conversation with an intelligent person last night, who blamed having to lay people off from a business on Obama's tax plan. Seriously? Dude's not in office yet, and you've no idea whether everyone will really pass his plan, but you're laying people off? Methinks those problems started long before November 4. And if they didn't, you're very good in your preemptive efforts. Feel badly for your situation, but still.....


....The twins are seeing to my insanity. This morning's festivities included a full blown fit because Griffin started brushing his teeth before Erin could get her toothbrush loaded. Erin was mad because she didn't have anyone to brush her teeth with. This happens every time one starts before the other. And if Erin starts before Griffin, it's the same thing. Erin, however, proceded to throw her loaded toothbrush across the bathroom floor. Yep. Spankings happened over that one!

....I'm starting to try and bring my lunch more frequently, due to my ever-increasing credit card balance. (Hence the aforementioned honey mustard) We'll see how long I can last. Nothing ever sounds good in the morning when I'm packing. I'm wondering how I'll be at 90 when nothing sounds good now. Just set me up with some TPN.

....My Starbucks gift card is now drained. I shall not bask in the joys of a Peppermint Mocha Twist, non-fat, but load on the peppermint whipped cream, on a cold wintry fall morning. *sigh* Stupid economy and large credit card balances!

No Spoilers....

....so for those of you who are reading my blog and seeing my incessant plugs for different books, rest assured that you will not get any spoilers here. I HATE HATE HATE it when people do that. I will tell you my opinion on the book, but it will be a lower level kind of opinion. I shall not go into depth on any of the plot, etc.

....That being said, for those of you who do wind up reading what I drone on about, feel free to put non-plot-spoiling opinions or email me to engage in discussion about said books.

....Now that I've finished the Twilight series, I would have to say that it was some of the most wholesome reading I've done in a long time. If people keep in mind the fact that they are YOUNG ADULT books, I think they'll find them a good read. There isn't a thing in any of the books that I wouldn't want my kids to read.

Happy Friday....

...Nothing much happening. I think it's because I'm reading the fourth Twilight book. Supposedly there is a fifth book running around out there, but it's not going to be published any time soon. It got leaked, and that upset the author. So... no fifth book for me. *sigh* Is ok, though. Quit reading the third Eragon book in the middle to be able to sail right through it and return it back to the library.

...Happy weekend, all!

Yay!

The election is over! And I would be this happy, even if McCain had won. Because it's over. People can find something else to degrade one another with now. Good times.

I was asleep long before they even entertained the idea of calling the election. Working out twice within a 24 hr period, as well as getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to vote yesterday made me a little more than sleepy. Aaron said I didn't even stir when he came in to tell me the news.

Here's a little funny about the elections. As many of you know, Hamilton County, is a hotbed of Republicans. Typically there isn't anyone to run on the ticket for the Democrats because they know it's no use. OK, whatever. But it's most irritating when people start teaching their children about their candidates. We were at dinner the other day, and Erin said "Obama is going to give money from people who don't have it and give it to people who already have it. And that's not nice." So she was convinced to vote for McCain. Um. She's FIVE. And she didn't hear this at home. So we talked to her about this a little bit, letting her know that isn't necessarily how things work. Well, yesterday, they had mock-elections at school. They even had little photo ID cards for the kids. Was very cute. I commented on this to Griffin, who was so very happy that Obama won. Erin pipes up, "I voted for Obama." "You did?" I ask her, "I thought you were voting for McCain?" Her reply: "Yeah, I WAS going to vote for him, but I voted for Obama at the end." It was just so funny to hear her say it. Remember, she's five! And it's funny how very much children tend to go with whatever their parents do. We'll see what happens when my kids are older, and how differently they'll feel... or perhaps they'll have similar views. I think mine differ from my parents.

Bendy....

... so part of karate is stretching. We do the splits and the butterfly stretch nearly every class. And over the past two years, I've gotten increasingly flexible. I've seriously not been this flexible since I was a kid. And over the past few weeks, I've noticed that I can get lower and lower into the splits. My new goal is to be the first adult on the splits board. And these aren't cheerleader splits. These are Chinese splits. Or that's what we used to call them when I was a child. The only hang-up I'm having with being able to do them completely is that my outer hips lock up and hurt when I try to push myself. So I'm trying to stretch that area out, too. If you have any ideas on how to best stretch that, let me know! Am damn competitive!

Back Pain....

...so I've not worked out since last Wednesday in any capacity. And my back really hurts. Fuck weight loss...that is a mere side effect of what I do to make my back feel better!

...So I watched the game last night with bated breath. I'm sure I wasn't the only fan on pins and needles, waiting for the evil, evil Patriots to somehow run completely away with the game. This tends to happen in regular season games, for whatever reason. The Pats always seem to be a thorn in the side of the Colts. And for good reason. They're pompous jerks! Anyway, being up later than I wanted did pay off well in a Colts win! Yay!

...but today, despite the diet Coke and Venti Peppermint Mocha, and now another diet Coke, I can't seem to be energized today. I feel like I'm in a fog. *sigh*

...Aaron took Erin to the eye doctor today. She seems to be on the right track with the lazy eye, and the doc mentions less and less the impending need for surgery. So methinks all the fighting to get her to wear the patch is paying off. Shout out to Greg, Katie's husband, for getting me the smaller patches that she so prefers. Every morning, I tell her that it's time to get her patch on. Every morning she gasps and begins her fight until I tell her that it's the smaller patch. And then she happily puts the damn thing on her face. I asked her teacher about the patch at Erin's coference. She told me that Erin will often wait until she gets in the KG classroom before taking off her patch. That way, she can proudly take her patch off in front of everyone. Crack me up.

...and yet another shout out to Judy for taking on my three kids during the teacher inservice day....She gets Collin to help entertain her oldest son Noah, and she gets the twins to irritate her youngest son, Seth....Not sure if this is a good or bad trade-off..... *winks*

Sunday....

....so we went to Terre Haute today to eat brunch with Aaron's family. It was a nice visit, and the drive to Terre Haute is much shorter than the drive to Southern Indiana to visit my family. We actually ate at some special place at St. Mary of the Woods college. Two of Aaron's aunts went to school there. The place was fairly schwank-ily decked out, though the food was really nothing special.

...special shout-out to Judy for the fun Phantom basket that landed on my porch. Usually she's called the Porch Fairy, but she disguised herself as the Phantom on Friday. There was three of everything in the basket, along with temporary tattoos. So my question to Judy would be whether or not the tattoos were for me. *winks*

....Go Colts! Not holding my breath for a win tonight, but am not giving up hope that they might be able to poop out a win.

Halloween and All Saints Day....

.... So this is Aaron, Collin, Steven, and another neighborhood kid... Collin decided to be Mystery Man. I don't know what the hell Aaron was supposed to have been.

.....this was Cate and Claire, Erin, and Griffin. Claire is in Griffin's class at school, and the kids get along very well. Cate is Claire's younger sister, and cute as a button. She was terribly excited about each and every piece of candy she got.

...so Halloween was a bunch of fun. Sooo much better than last year's trip around the 'hood! My dad had a conference up in Huntington this morning, so my parents came up to spend Friday evening with us and then today. So, for the first time, they got to see my little angels on Halloween. They went around the 'hood with us. My mom shared my cup of.... coffee.... yeah, that's it....coffee. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! Every year, our nice friends Matt and Renee offer up going to their house and partaking of good adult refreshments, but every year it seems that I'm delusional in thinking that we'll make it outside of the neighborhood. It's just the most chaotic time. Ever.

....love that I stayed up well past my bedtime talking to my mom. Love that she didn't care as I threw a fit this morning about the fact that my dishwasher is crap. She watched me and chatted with me as I washed all my dishes by hand. She watched and laughed as I took apart my dishwasher to remove chunks of deposits (thank you, hard water!) from my dishwasher. My mom is really cool like that. She's just so happy to be with us. And I'm so happy to have her there. Was a good visit.

....How many of you have gone for the early voting? For anyone who's actually gone, how long did you wait? Judy waited over an hour....during the middle of the day! Ayman waited over an hour...early in the morning. Another friend of mine just told me she waited two hours. Am thinking that I might be hosed. Am really hoping that Aaron and I will be able to make it to the polls. Not sure how it's going to work.

...That brings me to my next topic.... My dad. Love this man. But the only thing we managed to talk about in his presence was this damn election. And you know what? You all know who I am voting for. You've known that since the man said he was going for the Democratic nominee. But you know what? In all honesty? I really don't care who you vote for when Tuesday comes around. The important thing with this election is that the people of our country start viewing voting and getting involved as something worthwhile and knowing that their vote matters. The opinion of the people will prevail. And if it doesn't happen to correlate to my opinion, it wasn't meant to be. But sheesh. I wish that sometimes there would be more to talk about with my dad.....