Happy Halloween!

The boys had a fabulous time at the school Trunk-or-Treat and are gearing up for round two tonight. I did end up putting together a SuperMom costume, only to arrive and see that the other moms were "dressed up" by wearing Halloween shirts or just orange and black clothes. Harumph!


Happy Haunting everyone!

Oops, one more today!

Just saw this awesome clip over at Narrow Ridge that I want you to check out! On Being

Fabulous!



*On a sidenote, as I mentioned before, Blogger refuses to remember my password so I have to reset it every time I want to log in to post or edit. I got tired of making up "real" passwords, so I tend to use it as an outlet for frustration about the glitch. Just now I set it again to add this link & it always tells you how weak your password is to make sure you don't do something dumb like set it to the same name as your blog. Well, I was just told that eatmybutt is a really strong password. :) Oh that makes me smile! *

Thanks for the Blogger Award!

Thanks to Just Rk for the blogger award! Just in time to decorate my blog for Halloween!

Local Legends

Every town seems to have a few people who live their life to the fullest, who embrace their unique personality 110% and leave their mark on their community.

When I was a young adult in the early 90s, I was certain that I would always live an alternative lifestyle. I dyed my hair black or burgundy, shaved it, sprayed it into a haystack, wore copious amounts of black clothing and spent almost every waking moment listening to Goth, Punk, and Techno music. I started my college education at a small university in Alabama and most definitely was known as the "town freak." Granted, I had a little posse of like-minded friends, but nonetheless I managed to stick out like a sore thumb. When I transferred to KSU, I met even more like-minded friends and felt secure in my expression of individuality. My music tastes broadened to Grunge and Power Pop in my new setting, and my clothes slowly emerged from the black pit. Eventually I needed to get a job, so I even tamed my hairstyle. I just started getting tattoos instead.

Towards the end of my long stay at KSU, I ventured into more organic interests. I grew my hair out to the middle of my back, wore long skirts and sandals, and preferred Blues, Jazz and Folk music. Suddenly those days of the dark punk life seemed to harsh and cold.

Manhattan has several Local Legends. These are people that you may or may not know personally but have crossed paths with many and made a lasting impression. There is Terry the Candle Man, a middle-aged man that rides a 3-wheel bike with a basket full of his handmade candles that sells to provide for himself. Terry is a sweet, kind man who always has a smile and friendly hello as he passes you. Then there is Bob, the vision-impaired elderly man who has his own seat reserved at Auntie Mae's Parlor. It's just not the same without Bob around.

We only lived in Goodland for a couple of years, but Local Legend John Golden was impossible to miss. This patriarch of Goodland always knows the best place to eat lunch on certain days of the week and never fails to greet you with "Isn't today the best day of your life?!" You know he is going to say it and no matter how grumpy your day has been, you can't help but reply, "Yep, every day I am alive and my family is healthy is the best day of my life." He can tell you the elevation of every county in Kansas. He can tell you about any part of the world you have ever been, because he has been there too. His wisdom, enthusiasm and honesty are traits that I can only hope to achieve.

We've been in Hutchinson for two years now and there are two Local Legends that have caught our eyes. We don't know them yet and we haven't heard their story. The first person that we noticed is a man in his 60s who roller skates and wears big 1970s style headphones as he cruises around town. Regardless of the weather, he is out there skating to and fro. We have seen him eating at Fraise Drugstore, and the skates do not come off. The second one is a guy, could be 25-30 yrs old, with long dyed black hair, seen wearing a knee-length fur coat, fishnet stockings, and Ugg boots in the winter. His summer attire is fishnets with heels, short skirts and tank tops. The interesting thing is he is always on an old three speed bike. We have never seen him walking in a store or restaurant, he just is on the bike, back and forth across town. I'd love to hear what their stories are!

I'm in my mid-30s now and I have certainly merged into someone that blends in with the crowd. I feel so out of place at rock shows now. I'm more likely to point out haystacks to my sons then to consider it as a hairstyle. I don't yearn to be the young adult I was, but I don't want to be WalMart Mom either. My parenting choices are alternative to some, but I have a wonderful group of like-minded friends that keep me company. My parents are thankful that I don't get tattoos anymore (though I would like one in honor of my kids) and I am presentable in nice settings. I may not be a Local Legend, but I think I am still on the path to being the individual I want to be.

Who's ready for Halloween?

My boys are!

I had high hopes of winning on ebay a Captain Feathersword costume for Sean to wear this year. Unfortunately, I just couldn't bring myself to bid over $20 for a used costume. So Sean is going as Woody from Toy Story and he is equally happy about it. He has taken such a fondness to Woody lately, he will play with the Woody doll we have for over an hour. Yesterday he wouldn't let go of him at naptime, so Woody slept with us. Sean thought it was terribly funny to share "milkies" with Woody, even made lip smacking sounds as he held Woody up to my boob! Eventually, they both took a nap and I headed downstairs. An hour later, Sean apparently woke up, saw Woody & pulled his string a few times (we could hear him over the baby monitor) then he went back to sleep!

I tried talking Aidan into being Buzz Lightyear since we thought it would be so cute for them to co-ordinate. Instead he insisted on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. Doug and Aidan went to a Halloween party at the United Methodist Church Sunday evening and had a blast. Aidan's costume fit perfectly, which is a first. Doug said they loaded up on candy and pigged out on it right away. Aidan quickly made the discovery that lots of candy on an empty tummy is not a good feeling.

Wednesday the preschool is doing Trunk-or-Treat and I volunteered to help hand out candy & run the games. I also have to put together a costume to wear. I was thinking about going as a farmer, but alas I somehow gave up my jean overalls from college. Might have to visit the Goodwill. Aidan said I should wear a cape and my sparkly eye mask and be SuperMom. He's my schmoopey boy!

Flog Me with a Wet Noodle

I missed a day. 26 days of posting and I flaked out yesterday. I am so disappointed in myself. I know it isn't a contest or anything, but I hate to accept a challenge and fail. Well, unless of course it's a weight loss challenge... I fail those with no guilt!

So here's what we did yesterday instead of blogging.

First, the Break It Fairy has completed her Break Three Things Then Move On Challenge at our house. First, the Break It Fairy broke our sliding glass door to the backyard. I was coming in the house, carrying Sean. When I pulled the door open, Aidan thought is would be clever to try to lock me out. Somehow the door managed to get jammed up off the track. Doug attempted to fix it with brute force (ala Minner Repair Style, lots of "Scum Sucking Son of a ....") and split the wood frame around the door. It's toast.

Second, the dishwasher from hell was running the dry cycle and started emitting hideous fumes, definitely killing brain cells. The motor is burned up, the dishes reeked so I had to re-wash them by hand and now Doug is the official dishwasher in the house. He does not want to replace it until the Hutchinson Reverse Osmosis Water Plant is completed in 2009. I have a hard time seeing him keeping up with dishes for the next year when he can't even keep up with the lawn mowing and that is only needed once a week.

Third, the boys ran downstairs to snuggle by the Heater Box yesterday and after 10 years of loyal lovin' the Heater Box has died! Seriously, a cause for drama and mourning in our house.

To top all this off, I was in a headlock from Aidan the Amazing and somehow lost the temple screw on my glasses. Doug taped that puppy back together (no, not with duct tape, Dad) and we decided a trip to Sears was in order.

Sears optical fixed my glasses, we were overwhelmed by the dishwasher choices in the appliance dept and underwhelmed by the Heater Love for sale. I popped into Hobby Lobby to get leather cord to repair Woody's hat for Sean's costume, then we went home. Sean and I had a lovely nap together, while Doug and Aidan amassed a fortune on Webkinz.

Around 6 we decided that it would be fun to load up in the car and drive an hour to eat at Chipotle. Nothing like a dinner date on the road with preschoolers! At least we finally got to watch all of The Reef (aka Shark Bait.)

Well, I hope to not miss any more days, only three left. Yep, I can do that.

What do you mean by Stay At Home Mom?

I'm feeling ubber lazy today after a busy morning. Sean had an appointment with the barber this morning and was a perfect angel for his haircut. I can not express how wonderful it is to finally have someone to cut his hair with NO TEARS! We've been to so many different places, tried so many different things to distract him and no one but our current barber has had the magic touch. Plus he ends up looking like a handsome little dude!

Aidan went to the office to hang out with Daddy while Sean got his haircut, so we went over there afterwards to pick him up. Sean made his rounds, saying hello and giving Dolores a quick wave, then down to Unc Curt's office for another quick hello, before arriving in Daddy's office to shout "Dadda!" He played with the intercom on the phone a bit, then trotted off thru the building in search of fun. He went down to the old dining hall and pulled up a seat at the piano. He was delighted in his music abilities, which I must say were not as painful as some others I've heard on that piano!

With much effort, I got the boys back in the van to make a trip to the grocery store before heading home. Needed: cat food. Bought: cat food, box of fruit roll-ups, 6 pack of mini Sierra Mist. I decided to try to have the boys hold my hand and walk to the car, so I didn't have to push the cart back in. Sean saw this as an opportunity to bolt and headed down the sidewalk in the opposite direction as fast as he could. Sigh.

Once home, Sean was determined not to go inside, so I herded him to the backyard and pointed the jeep in the right direction for him. The boys played nicely in the backyard for a good 40 mins, filling up a basket and toy wheelbarrow with leaves.

Aidan had his mouth set on eating at Subway today, so we got back in the van to take Daddy to lunch at noon. Aidan has become an amazing eater lately, he is just hungry hungry hungry all the time. After lunch, Daddy headed back to work & I looked forward to a quiet afternoon at home. The boys played some, then Sean and I went to bed for nap time (yes, I actually dozed off for a few minutes!) I forced myself to get up, head downstairs and clean up the tornado of toys through the house. Aidan was a sweetheart and helped me collect the pack of cards Sean scattered through the rooms.

Won't be long before the little man is up again and I have to get dinner going. It's Chicken ala King tonight! A nice warm meal to settle us in for the night.