Wordless Wednesday - political pumpkin

New post on my review blog - Total Transformation Program lesson 1

Review of lesson 1 from the Total Transformation Program up on my review blog!

Show and Tell - of the jack-o-lantern variety

We carved pumpkins today. Which basically means Noah stuck his hands in his a few times to pull out some seeds, and I spent the next two hours cutting and scooping.

This is Noah's pumpkin. He wanted a "bloody face." I think he got it. The picture didn't turn out when I tried without the flash. I think I need to put a brighter candle in it. Looks good in person though.

I decided to do an election theme with my pumpkins this year.

I still have our really big pumpkin to do, which will have Obama's face on it. I also need to finish up Kiel's pumpkin which has a happy face.

I got the patterns for the campaign-o-lanterns here.

Still wanted

I just took Noah to see High School Musical Three. It wasn't horrible. Kinda cute.

Please tell me that thinking Zac Efron is cute doesn't make me a sad middle aged woman with inappropriate thoughts.

So we stocked up on candy, got some popcorn and coke and actually sat still for two hours while we watched the previews and the movie. It was Noah's first big kid movie. I was pretty impressed that he sat through it.

I have to admit I'm pretty excited that he might be able to go see more movies (besides animated ones) with me in the future.

The best part though was he chose me to take him.

He and Rich have become such a team since I was pregnant with Kiel. Rich really does the majority of Noah's care while I take care of Kiel. And I let him, because he has so much more patience for Noah and his behavior. I lose it with him way too easy.

But today it was just Noah and me, and that was how he wanted it. It's nice to know I'm still wanted.

He even sat on my lap for some of it!

And this is why I don't clean

Remember all that awesomeness I was the other day, cleaning out my laundry room, and OMG, even pulling out the dryer to clean behind it and replace the venting (or duct, or what ever the hell that damn tubing is called that connects it to the wall). Yeah, that day where I was rocking it all "I am woman" like and damn it "I come with tools."

Oh yeah, well fuck me and all that work I did.

The damn dryer isn't working now. It's lacking some serious heat, which apparently is needed if you want to actually dry clothes with it.

Fuck.Me.

Tackle it Tuesday - the CLR challenge

About a month ago I signed up for the CLR Challenge on 5 Minutes for Mom's Tackle it Tuesday. They sent me a free bottle of CLR Bathroom and Kitchen cleaner and I promised to blog about it.

Over the weekend I decided to give it a shot on our shower, which is pretty bad. There is mold and mildew in the caulking and I was pretty sure nothing could help it other than replacing the old caulk.

It helped, but like I thought, I'm really going to have to replace that caulk.

So then I tried it on an old laundry basket that we were storing bath toys in. It worked great!

Now I was motivated, and today I decided to tackle our laundry room, which was out of control!

I really needed to put those blankets away, and clean off the top of the dryer.

But first I needed to get rid of all that freaking dust. I even pulled out the dryer to clean the dryer vent. Wasn't I happy to find the duct was broken. I spent close to an hour trying to fix it before I gave up and went and bought new venting. Then that took another hour to install because I couldn't get one end on over the piping. A little jerry rigging and some duct tape fixed that problem. Forgot to get a picture of that though.

Now we have a clean dryer. And here it's reorganized.

And check out that rack! You can actually see it. All that is left is Noah's old 4T size clothes in the bottom basket, 18 month and 2T clothes for Kiel for next year, and shirts to take to the dry cleaner on top.

I still need to give the floor a good scrubbing, but by the time I got to this point it was time to make dinner.

So, as far as CLR goes it did work well. But, I have a few issues with it. I didn't have gloves and my hands are telling me I should have been wearing them. I'm also trying hard to "go green" and this really isn't a green product. I think I could have accomplished every thing but the mildew/mold just as well with my Scunci steam cleaner and my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

I'd give it a solid B I think.

I'm a damn liberal!

Recently through Facebook I reconnected with one of my best friends from high school. (Hi Laurie!) We started talking about our lives now and somehow got on the topic of politics and religion.

Turns out we have some very different views on those topics. At first I thought she had changed, but then I realized it's really me that has changed.

I grew up in a very Republican family and so I considered myself a Republican too. I believed what my Dad believed. I think some of it had to do with how much I wanted him to approve of me. Some of it was my lack of interest in politics, so instead of figuring it out for myself, as the major male figure in my life, I took on his views.

And then I grew up. I had a career, my own house, my own life. And slowly, I started to see the world with open eyes. And I realized I didn't see things as black and white anymore, but as shades of grey. And I realized that I'm a damn liberal! And I like it!

So yeah, I guess I'm the one that has changed. And I'm proud of it. I'm proud that I grew, and that my life experiences have led me to make my own decisions on what I believe. Now don't get me wrong, I'm in no way criticizing someone whose views haven't changed over the years! I'm just saying I no longer let someone else tell me what to think because I didn't bother checking out the facts on my own.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm a damn liberal.

I try very hard to respect other peoples political and religious views, but I do have a few hot buttons, such as a woman's right to chose what happens to her body. It's hard for me not to react emotionally when it comes to those hot button topics. So I'm going to keep working on being respectful and tolerant.

I think I may have offended my friend with some of my comments to her, and I feel bad about that. We don't see eye to eye any more, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be respectful of her views, even if I do think they are crazy don't agree with them.

Show and Tell - of the pumpkin patch variety

We all went to the pumpkin patch, to see what we could see.

We saw corn, and gourds, and lots and lots of pumpkins.
What we didn't want to see though was the camera. Please boys, look at me!
Noah had a lot to teach Kiel about picking the perfect pumpkin.


It is very important to be able to lift it over your head!

And of course it must make a good seat.

Almost Wordless Wednesday - of the apple picking variety

Last weekend we went apple picking.
Kiel got down to business.

And picked his very first apple.

And then he ate his very first apple.

And it was good.

Very, very good.

So good he offered to share.

Noah is an old apple picking pro.

Even when the apples are almost as big as his head.

Sometimes the best ones are way up high.

And sometimes you don't even have to get your butt off the ground.

And then Kiel checked out his first pumpkin.

No one told him about the pointy part.

Or that you could ride it like a horse.

Noah's favorite part is anything he gets to do with Daddy.

The P.U. chronicles

Figure I'd update you on the parental unit drama.

I have not heard from my parents since the end of August. The last time I spoke with them was to let them know we arrived home OK.

Last week I sent them the link to the pictures we had taken of the boys. I figured that was a non confrontational way to make first contact.

It's been a week. And nothing! Nada!

I'm not sure if I'm more hurt or more angry.

It will be very interesting to see if they come for Kiels birthday, which is in just over a month. Shit, at this point it will be interesting to see if I even hear from them.

What would you do?

The other day I was driving and stopped at a red light. I was half paying attention to the car in front of me, when I realized the guy in it was letting something fall out of his hand on to the road. An empty pack of cigarettes. All so casual like, just "falling" out of his hand as it hung out the driver's side window.

And I sat there and said out loud "no. you. didn't!"

And then I sat there some more and debated whether or not I should get out of the car and pick it up and give it back to him. "I think you dropped this."

Then the light turned green and he drove off, and the opportunity was gone.

I'm still thinking about it, and wondering why I didn't have the guts to do it.

Would it have been stupid of me? Risky? Or just really ballsy?

What would YOU have done?

Show and Tell - of the show and brag variety

Anyone mind if I show off my boys?

Pictures were taken by Jess at JC Penney Portrait Studios in Montgomeryville, PA.