Happy Hallow-eenie

well, yepm thefestivities are complete. the costumes are packaged up/placed in the laundry basket for some heavy duty cleaning. a good good time was had, and the parental units that were the escorts were very pleased with the events of the evening.

pounds and pounds of candy were collected. i think that the dads (aforementioned parental unit-escorts - do you see where i am going with this??) don't exactly *watch* the collecting until it's too late. you know, like when the candy bag has been dragging on the ground from the weight of the candy for thirteen, maybe fourteen neighborhoods ... that's the time to perhaps call the end to the collecting.

yep, pounds are sitting on the dining room table. last year we "bought" the candy back and traded it for some cashola to the squirts - worked well, they BOTH still have that cash, and quite a bit more in savings so perhaps we can coerce them to go that route again .... we'll see.

so, anyway, enough of the blather - here they are:

what? you can't figure out the costumes? c'mon - clearly those two fine upstanding, save-the-day superhero-esque citizens are none other than:

A Monarch Butterfly with super wings on her back that you can't see in the picture

and....

Dude, Seriously?! Our resident homegrown superhero.

ah, the joys of sweet, innocent, and deliciously "benign" costumes on my kids .... i fear that i only have a few years left of sweet and innocent based on the dreadful costumes that arrived at my front door - you know, bloody, and twisted minded costume ideas. {sigh}

I'll take a butterfly and superhero ANY day! :o)

and of course, the Devil Dog was in the spirit .... for a minute or two while i snapped the pictures ....

the other two have done this routine before ... they were hiding when he donned this little diddy. silly 7 month old! ;)

hope you had a fun night ....

these three are just amazing

they are my bro's and sil's 3 girls. 17, 15 and 13. a dancer, an ice hockey player, and another dancer. uber talented, smart, funny, engaging, charismatic, and just plain cool kids. i know how proud my bro and sil are of them ... and they should be. look at those faces?!

but man, i DO NOT envy the position he is in ~ 3 teeneage girls + a female wife + a female dog in one house. with one male.

no doubt, he leaves early for work for a very good reason .......

my nieces, i am so proud of them. xo

toiling in the garden

planting the seeds of growth.

it really is that kind of existence these days ..... 4th quarter is like that in sales. i would suspect any sales, of any kind, in any industry.

medical sales is especially interesting, you see. you spend all year planting the seeds, and then fertilizing, and then watering, and weeding, and pruning, and nurturing, and watering some more .... and then BAM! one day, you walk outside, and there's a blessed, knock-you-down, make you almost weep with glee, gorgeous bloom in your face. it's the 4th quarter for me. i have been watering all year.

where's the bloom?

i know it's coming ... i know it's just beyond the vision in my eye. it's right there.

patience they say, is a virtue. i will be patient. more patient.

because truthfully, it is there - many, many, many large full blossom blooms. {grins} be patient.

and really, isn't there a life lesson in this one? isn't it kids that are the bloom that we "get" in their adulthood. that moment of pause we have when they appear in front of us - momentous, or benign ordinary day kind of moment - and we wonder how we possibly allowed the time to zip by without braking furiously to slow it all down ....

i can be patient. very patient. my brakes are working.

my little k-gal reminded us tonight just how patient we all need to be. at dinner, the conversation was an animated one (shocking, i know) about monthly 'costs' a household endures .. something like: "so, mom, if we didn't use electricity for the month, would we still have a bill to pay?" "if you didn't use the phone for the month, would the bill still come?" "why are there bills anyway? why can't we all just not pay them?" hmmmmmm .... the minds of 8.5, and 7 year olds - g.e.n.i.o.u.s if you ask me. :) but really, this is all pertaining to the unit at school that she is doing 'wants versus needs' 'have to's versus want to's' and apparently she's listening, and expounding on it to reach different levels. i find it wonderful, especially to coincide with our family discussions of chipping in to help around the house, and we all 'work' to keep the family moving - they know that mommy and daddy work, and have paychecks etc, but they don't have the worry of bills, you know? - there'll be plenty of time for that worry, if you ask me. so, yeah, i digress ....

as we're chatting ..... she sits there, and after we answer the monthly bills question, she says "geez, i don't want to grow up - " s and i look at each other and smile.

true, that. it ain't all that's it's cracked up to be. grown up. pfffttttt.

oh, but she and he will be blooms. they will be blessed, knock-you-down make you almost weep with glee, gorgeous blooms - in your face! :O)

toiling in the garden ... it is a wonderful thing.

sox vs rockies

yep - world series fanning has begun ... hubby and son are all geeked up over the beginning of the series ... fun stuff! i hope they go all the way ... i am definitely feeling the energy of the excitement, as is the daughter, we're bandwagon fans at this point (shhhh don't tell the guys that live here, we've been keeping that a secret! ;)

tonight begins the event, and for the (hopefully) just a few games .... at least that's what we're all hoping in this New England house! :o)

with that, a little seasonal sarcomial game ....

remember, if you want to join in, just one word answers ~

The Air: chilly
Favorite Fall Indulgence: cinnamon
Out Your Window: farm
On Your Desk: folders
On Your Feet: socks
Favorite Fall Smell: fall
Temperature On Your Thermostat: 65
Your Shirt: warm
Your Hair: pampered
Something You Want to Make Sure You Do this Fall: breathe
Where You Last Took a Fall (heh): grass
Your Last Drink: water
Your Last Meal: soup
You're Thinking About: tomorrow
Hearing: sox!
Your Favorite Fall Color: orange
Your Take On Seasonal Novelty Flags (i.e. turkeys, pumpkins, scarecrows): festive
A New Fall Show You Like: uhm ....
Your Plans for the Evening: sox!
Your Relationship With Pumpkins: fun

off to watch the game ... GO SOX!

how'd they know?

Your Power Color Is Magenta

At Your Highest: You energize yourself and push others to suceed. At Your Lowest: You feel frustrated and totally overwhelmed. In Love: You are suprised by who you attract. You're a love magnet. How You're Attractive: Open and free spirited, people want to explore the world with you. Your Eternal Question: "What is my next source of inspiration?"

What's" Your Power Color?

random blatherings

* good weekend. fun way to spend your 10th anniversary - away at a hockey game, well, two actually. the team won both, and that was fantastic. the families became closer - and that's always wonderful to be a part of.

* my external modem got fried while we were away though. not so much fun to come back to. forced me to watch the sox kick it to win the ALCS. go Boston! :)

* new modem installed today - 40 emails to read and return. not fun, but eh, 1/2 were mindless forwards just to peruse.

* i need to develop a thicker skin. in terms of personal things, i feel like i am tough. sometimes too rigid - tough. in terms of professional, not so much.

* i'm sick of ticking people off unintentionally, professionally, by pushing too hard for sales when i don't need to. i have been very patient, and not pushing so hard for the entire time i have been at this company, and all of a sudden i feel the urge to push more. dunno why. don't like it so much either. and then feeling the sting from pissing someone off in the hospital is the worst. need to work on the approach a bit more, and get back to just being patient.

* hockey game tonight - goaltender injured at school today, had to call the goalie up from the team down from us. sweet kid - *very* new to goaltending, though. felt a loss where we probably wouldn't have, dang it. another game friday - team goalie should be back.

* weather has been unbelievable. 80 degrees again today. 80 tomorrow. getting very nervous that the cold will snap in and dump buckets of snow on us all at once. bleck.

* took the advice of Oprah and began a grattitude diary. daily thankfulness is good. i wait until i go to bed, and scratch down a nice thought to end my day. seemingly makes me smile before i drift off.

* lifted spirits here at this house and i don't know why, but i love the positive energy it is bringing here. breathing easy. breathing ......

* higgins is absolutely freaking adorable these days. murphy and he have become good friends. cleo - not so much. she's still hoping he is only here as an overnight guest. middle child, she is. ;)

* major cleaning of the office this weekend. looks and feels like i've gotten a new office. yum. perhaps made a little space for scrapping! yeeee!

* school pictures thursday. family pictures for holiday card planning on saturday. hoping for some good weather to stretch through the weekend anyway.

* oh! whacked my ulnar nerve earlier today (aka "the funny bone") on my left elbow. holy crap, hardest hit i have ever felt. left arm and hand completely rendered useless for about 2 minutes straight while driving. that sucked. now just swollen out of the groove that's there (between the bones of elbow) and really tender to touch. ice and advil are in order, i think.

* my fabulous mother planted 250 bulbs in the gardens yesterday ... i am so lucky. now i can't wait for the spring to see all the treats that are in store! :) i saw an article on how to "push" some bulbs throughout the winter ... i think i may try paperwhites, and some others too .... bring the spring in to the house, like maybe in february.

that's it for now .... off to ice and then to bed soon. late nights are just catching up with me.

g'night!

10

incredible
deeply loving
passionate
magical
tender
busy
crazy
partnership
at times, bumpy
always comfortable, always fulfilling with him

tomorrow marks 10 wonderful years with this man as his wife

t e n y e a r s

i never once questioned the way my heart sang for him from the beginning
i never once thought it wasn't him from the beginning
i never once backed away from my heart with him from the beginning

it's a journey, it's an adventure no doubt
but always it's the place i was meant to be

i love being his wife
i love having him as my husband
i love the family we've made together
i love that he is their daddy

i love that it feels like 10 minutes instead of 10 years

happy 10th anniversary, s

143

i love you more today than yesterday ... always

awesome

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain.

every once in a while, a little quote stirs something in me. this one was certainly in that category.

so much

filling my head, and my heart.

having some shifting going on with my existence these days, and it's good shifting. traveled to San Fran (again, this time with business) good trip, overall. not what i expected, but in the end, a shifting of sorts.

been struggling with some strange karma on the business front, all worthy of a breath of mine, and all allowing some shifting. making me think a wee bit more, and react after that thought.

attempting to stay on top of scheduling, and planning for the family, and for business with the busy season beginning for us. travel with the hockey man is about to get interesting. this weekend new york is calling. fun travel, for sure.

read a fabulous book, One More Day by Mitch Albom. if you liked Tuesdays with Morrie this one is for you. started and finished within a couple hours. consistent with the 'taking a breath' theme i've got running. very consistent. now i have 4 more books-a-waiting for me to read. just need some flights. ;)

starting to think about holiday lists of things that need to be organized. don't want to rush, but need to be organized to feel the spirit more effectively. planning to begin one project soon.

hoping to be back to write, and breath some more .... soon.

heading upstairs to get clean .....

he doesn't like stairs.

he doesn't like baths, either.

but he DOES like getting his photo taken. i think i've even gotten a smirk or two out of him when the camera points in his direction.

he is so.stinking.cute.i.cannot.stand.it.

hope your tuesday went well ...