Spooky Stuff

WooHoo, I'm making it two weeks in a row for MamaKat's writers workshop!

Here are this week's prompts:
1.) Show your spooky side.

2.) Show and Tell using your favorite Halloween home decor.

3.) Write a poem to your child as their Halloween character (for example I may write a poem to "Pongo"...the 101 Dalmatian Laina is going to be for Halloween)

4.) Post a vlog of yourself playing a Halloween prank on a family member or friend.

5.) Describe a favorite Halloween costume or moment you wish you had on video.

I'm thinking this will be a combo of #1 and #5 ;) but it's pretty much just #5.

Who doesn't love Halloween as a child? It has always been one of my favorite holidays. Every year as soon as school started I would start thinking about what I was going to be for Halloween. No matter what it was that I finally decided on, my mother was there to whip it up for me. I don't think we ever bought Halloween costumes. My mother was so creative and talented when it came to Halloween costumes! For several years in a row I was some kind of martian. One year my mom covered a box in tin foil and made me a tin foil hat with antennae and painted my face green. The next year she sewed a couple of extra arms on a shirt and I was a 4-armed alien with a third eye painted in the middle of my forehead.
But my favorite costume idea of my moms, the one that had everyone laughing at/with us, and the one I wish someone had videotaped would be the one where we all dressed up in black garbage bags and wore goofy orange wigs ;) It was simple, but effective. Can you imagine seeing five children and their parents all dressed up like this? I don't know where my mom got the idea. Maybe it was a year where she had no ideas and at the last minute threw it together? Not her most creative, but it was hilarious! My brothers were in boy scouts/cub scouts and they had a Halloween party for the scout families... we all sat together and would do this crazy laughing in unison. My step-father and youngest brother had these wonderful hearty contagious laughs. Every time we would do the laughing bit, everyone would laugh. We ended up winning the costume contest :) I wish I at least had a picture of it.

Flying By the Seat of my Pants

It's been a while since I have done Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop... I've been checking her prompts every week, but then not having the energy to write anything that would fit. This week #4 really struck me. I've been thinking about "How Motherhood Has Changed [Me]" since I became a mother.

I'd be lying if I didn't say it has changed me to the very core of my being.

I don't know what most women expect going into motherhood, but I'm guessing most believe what I did about becoming a mother: my life will continue exactly as it is now, but there will be the addition of a baby. I'll do the same things, be the same person, except I'll be changing a few diapers. And I'll have this wonderful bundle of joy and sunshine that I will carry around with me while I do all the stuff I normally do, and everyone will comment on how adorable and well behaved she is and pinch her cheeks. And I will be so overwhelmed with joy once my dream of motherhood has been fulfilled.

I started my journey towards motherhood with small steps. I first became a step-mother every other weekend and on holidays. Minimal changes. Pretty much led the same life I did without children, so hello motherhood, this isn't so bad. And I had a child for all the important and festive holidays. It was perfect.

Our next step was adoption. We adopted our 6 year old niece. I was so completely thrilled. I could jump right in and be that PTA super involved Mom. She was at that age where we could do all sorts of fun things together like crafts, baking cookies and playing games. We started out spending time with her while she was in foster care. We would have her every other weekend and on holidays. As soon as we finished with all the classes and preliminary paperwork we got to have her move in until the adoption was finalized. By that time I was about 6mos pregnant with our first baby. It was also the end of the school year, so I wasn't able to get as involved as I would have liked.

Having my first baby hit me like a ton of bricks. He ended up having colic, so basically he spent hours upon hours a day having screaming fits. I spent pretty much his first 8mos of life holding him and trying to keep him from screaming his head off all the time. We couldn't go anywhere, if we did he would scream the entire time we were in the car and wherever it was we were going.

It was then that I really understood the full scope of motherhood. Once you become a mother, you are a mother 24/7. It's so much more than a job. You don't get any breaks, and there is no quitting time. You are on the job all day and all night. I had never imagined myself a stay-at-home mother, but circumstances led to that being the only logical choice. I was, and still am happy with that choice. I wouldn't have it any other way. Motherhood is an enormous responsibility, and I wouldn't trust anyone else with the care of my precious children.

I never imagined how much of myself and what I did to be me I would choose to put aside when I became a mother. I didn't expect that motherhood would change me all that much.

But now I look at myself, my life and the mother I have become, and realize that I have pretty much completely lost touch with the person I used to be. At the moment I'm not sure whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. I am leaning towards the good, and trying to see the positive changes in myself that have occurred.

I used to be somewhat irresponsible and a little self-absorbed (internally speaking that is). Motherhood forces you to become a responsible person, or at least it should. It is no longer just your life that concerns you, there are the lives of your children that are of the utmost importance. And you really can't be too self-absorbed. You can't get hung up on yourself when you have to spend most of your time caring for others. So in that way motherhood has forced me to become a better person.

I am realizing now what a large and involved topic this is, and how little time I have to really do it justice... especially since at the moment, while I am trying really hard to use what little brain I have left to compose something articulate and worthwhile, I have a 4 year old who just will not leave me alone and has been nonstop talking and demanding the entire time I've been sitting here drafting... and a colicky infant who decided that now would be the best time to start a full blown screaming fit.

So I will continue on this topic in some future posts...

Toddler OCD at its Finest

This week for Mama Kat's Writing Prompt, I chose #4) Write about something that bothered you this week.

While I hate to dwell in the negative... in some ways that is what this blog is for. A place where I can vent about whatever I want. And I so hate to imply that my kids bother me in any way - but to be real - there are some days and some weeks when their behaviours are quite bothersome.

This week, my 3 year old little man has just about gone off the deep end with his demands and specifics.

He is specific about *everything*

Everytime we come home he absolutely MUST walk through the rocks to the back door. If he is unable to walk through the rocks there is a huge fit and hysterics until he is taken back outside and let to walk through the rocks to the back door. Everytime we leave the house he absolutely MUST spin the lock at least twice.

As I was starting this post, there was a huge meltdown because I, while putting some goldfish in a bowl for him (his lightning mcqueen bowl of course), spilled a couple of goldfish on the table. I picked them up and put them in the bowl. However, I overlooked two little goldfish crumbs that had also spilled out. "Put them back in the bowl mommy, put them back in the bowl!" I picked up the minuscule crumbs and put them in the bowl.

Today has been one of the worst days. Everything has had to be just so. His pears (which were really apples, but if he eats them, who cares what he calls them) had to be on his plate in a certain way. He had to have a plate, not a bowl, for his cereal this morning. He whined all day to watch a movie that I could not understand and that he could not point to. Nothing else would do. Everything else I tried to put in was met with "turn it off mommy, turn it off. turn it off mommy, turn it off" until I turned off the offensive movie.

He is out of sorts today because we ran out of the blue gatorade. The red will just not do. Not at all. Neither will Sunny D or milk or juice. Nothing but the blue gatorade will he drink.

He was out of sorts yesterday because we could not find his lightning mcqueen shoes. He screamed and cried both times we had to leave the house and would not put on the Thomas the Train shoes. It had to be the lightning mcqueen shoes, but lightning mcqueen was no where to be found. I found out where he hid them last night - too late to save the drama.

Huge meltdown last night at bedtime because I kissed him. Just before I kissed him he put his hands up to cover his lips and I (unknowingly as it was dark) managed to kiss his hands. So when his wails of "wipe it off mom wipe it off! wipe that kiss off" resulted in my wiping his cheeks instead of his hands.... lets just say I finally wiped the kiss of both of his hands.

Everynight before bed, all of his toys have to be put away. If he spies a toy amiss on his way to bed he insists that I put his toy into the toybox. If there happens to be a toy in the bedroom: "take it mom, take it" and it must go to the toybox.

It seems like all of a sudden over the past couple of weeks, things that are out of place are a complete and total disruption for him. And it is a complete and total meltdown until things are put back in their place properly.

Please tell me this is just a phase.

Snow Haiku and more ;)

Its hard to believe I haven't been back here since last week at this time :( I've had a busy time of it lately and life has been getting in the way of blogging ;)
Anyway, I'm back this week again for Mama Kat's Writing Prompt!
I chose prompt 1.) Write a haiku about what you see out the window. (if you don't know what a haiku is click here.)

Snow out the window
though its not quite time for it
wait another month!

I used to work for a place that conducted telephone surveys. I spent the time between calls coming up with telephone survey haikus ;) I wish I could remember some of them because they were pretty funny. But I probably lost them about 5 moves ago.

Anyway, I've been busy over the past week with Dr's appointments and having to run to town for this or that... Anytime I have to run to town for anything that just kills my entire day. We live about 40 minutes away from anything and everything having to do with civilization. Which makes it super sucky when you forget something at the store! :)

I had my first prenatal appointment on Tuesday! We scheduled an early ultrasound, so I will hopefully have some reassurance next week! Other than that, you know how those first appointments are, nothing but what not to eat and take for medication and other such information. Too early for all the exciting stuff.

I am horribly horribly nauseous. 24/7. It sucks. But at least I'm not barfing. But then some days I wish I would just barf and get it over with. While it sucks, it makes me feel good - as being nauseous is a good sign.

At least I can still eat. And boy am I ever! I have to eat something about every hour, otherwise the nausea gets worse. When I was pregnant with baby girl I was the same way (and the nausea did not end after the first trimester!) but that time nothing was in the least appetizing. I had to force myself to eat after the nausea set in.

Anyone have any suggestions for nausea? Was there something that worked magic for you? My sister suggested ginger snaps when I was pregnant with baby girl, and that worked for maybe a week, then I couldn't even look at a ginger snap and thinking about one now makes me want to barf...

Top 10 Reasons...

Why I did not take my kids to the special Halloween playgroup party today:

Yes, it's time again for Mama Kat's writing prompt!
And this week I'm choosing #5) You've been hired as a writer for "Late Show with David Letterman." Your first assignment is to come up with a witty, nonpolitical Top Ten list for him to read on air.
OK, so David Letterman would most likely never read a top ten list like this, but... he wasn't faced with the decision of whether to take his two little kids to a Halloween playgroup party...


10. I haven't taken my kids to the playgroup since about January. So they would know I was only going to get the free book and treats!
9. And actually, I only went to the playgroup about 3 or 4 times anyway... one of them being the Halloween party. And that was only to get the free book and treats ;)
8. I was afraid I would take a picture of the wrong Spiderman. Last year at least half of the boys went as Spiderman. My son has never seen Spiderman, yet *had* to have a Spiderman costume. Subliminal marketing?
7. We've gone somewhere every day this week... and I'm just tired of going... I needed one day for some rest and relaxation, 'cause we all know that with trick-or-treat tomorrow I'll be out and about again.
6. I need to stay home and sew my daughter a pirate vest for tomorrow. I spent 2-3 weeks crocheting one, but somehow it turned out to be way too big and she'd look like a clown instead of a pirate. Maybe she'd rather be a clown? ;) I guess I should be looking for my sewing machine!
5. All the other moms at the playgroup are either needy or pretentious. And lets just say that I don't fit into any of their little cliques. I hate to be mean and all, but its the truth. I would probably fit into that needy category too, but seriously, most of the time I don't mind not having any friends.
4. I planned on getting a lot of things done around the house instead. Oops. Guess I should have just been honest with myself and admitted that I was going to sit around doing bloggy things all day.
3. It was at 10:30am. And it takes 40mins to get there. Need I say more?
2. I won't have time or energy to wash their Halloween costumes before trick-or-treat, and we all know that they will be soiled in some way (by food or diaper leakage).
1. I'm just a lazy bitch.

I would so walk a mile for...

some good Mexican food!!! Yes, it's time again for Mama Kat's writing prompt!

But sadly, around here - there are no good Mexican restaurants! I would have to walk about 500 miles...

Man do I love me some good Mexican food! I wouldn't just walk a mile for some right now, I would totally do some unsavory things (OK, couldn't come up with something more specific at this moment) to get some good Mexican food right now!

The best Mexican food I've ever had was in Tucson. I spent a year there in graduate school. And I'll be damned if I didn't eat Mexican food at least twice a week! Probably more like 5 times a week. I would have so totally been in heaven had I been pregnant while I was there. I think through every pregnancy I've dreamed about the food there... from the taco shacks to the fancy restaurants...

Oh, the rolled guacamole tacos and the machaca burrito were totally my favorites. But the best thing in the world? There was this restaurant down the street from my apartment that had a Sunday breakfast buffet. Me and a bunch of my friends from the apartment complex would go out drinking Saturday night and then we'd all go out to the breakfast buffet on Sunday morning all hung-over or still drunk from the night before. Oh I can still taste the cheese enchilada casserole. And I've tried so hard to find a recipe that would taste anything like it!

So that's what I would totally walk a mile for.

Scary Stuff!

Every week I plan on doing Mama Kat's writing prompt... and every week I end up just too darn busy. But this week, oh I'm still busy... busy being scared! ;)

Writing Prompt: My 10 biggest fears

1. Germs. Yep, I am a huge germ-a-phobe. Carry around germ-x and purell like you wouldn't believe. It's all I can do not to bathe in the stuff if I even think about something germy and icky. Every winter my hands get horribly chapped from all the handwashing. Just today, I bathed a shopping cart in purell because baby girl would not keep her mouth off of it! Now that is scary!
   
2. Gas Appliances. They totally freak me out. I hold my breath every time I light my burners or oven. I run past the water heater in the basement. I put off checking the LP tank as long as possible (which has led to some expensive emergency deliveries).
3. Undercooked Meat. I cook my meat until I am absolutely sure its no longer pink. And then I cook it some more. Incidentally, gravy is awesome. It helps with all the dryness from cooking the meat too long. Of course it doesn't help so much with the burnt meat.
4. Feet. I can't stand them. Except for baby feet of course. Who doesn't love baby feet? This probably goes back to the whole fear of germs thing. I don't even touch my own feet. And if I accidentally do (aside from in the shower of course), I wash my hands about five times.
5. That my husband will come home early from work one day and catch me blogging here. ;)
   
6. The Hantavirus. Probably completely irrational, but still. Every fall, when the weather turns, or in the summer when it's especially hot and dry, the mice come in. We live in a rural area, so its completely unavoidable. And it completely freaks me out that some mice carry this virus. Every winter I'm ready to abandon my house for one that doesn't get mice.
7. The fact that some stores still sell toys that are recalled. Its perfectly legal in some states (including the one I'm living in). The fact that toys with high levels of lead paint in them might still be on the shelves at my local store scares the crap out of me. Especially since both of my little ones have a habit of putting everything in their mouths.
8. Everything on the floor of my car. My car is a mess. That's what happens when you live 30 miles from the closest fast food restaurant and you can't wait to get home to eat. And you make a habit of giving the two little ones milk/juice/snacks in the car and forget to fish out the bottle/cup/leftover and/or thrown snacks when you get home.
9. Basements/Attics. I fear them both equally due to watching too many damn horror movies as a kid. I totally run up/down the stairs when leaving in case of being chased by masked serial murderer or supernatural scary being who just happens to be hiding there.
10. That I won't see two pink lines next week!!

darn, did I do this a day late? Oh well, that's par for the course of my life! ;) Better late then never. Are there any more cliches about being late?