NaBloPoMo Day 4: 5QF

Questions for Friday, November 4th:

1. What movie do you love to quote?

I'm not a movie quoter. I quote TV shows all time though. Most specifically, and most often, Friends. I also quote Frasier, Mad About You, and Big Bang Theory. Maybe a few others, but those are my faves.

2. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?

Yup. One time when I was five or six, I rode on the back of my uncle's motorcycle. To be more accurate, I rode in the middle of my aunt and uncle, lol. No danger of me falling off. This might be considered weird to those of you that know me considering the fact that my husband owns a motorcycle. I've never once ridden with him and he's had one off and on since 2003 or so. 

3. What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?

Veg in the house. Today I'm going to crochet on my daughter's afghan and I'm making chili for dinner. Driving in California when it rains is like driving in Eastern North Carolina when it snows. You're taking your like into your hands. 

4. Do you prefer a bunch of small gifts, or one really big, (expensive) gift?

Either or. I prefer to spend my money on my kids for holidays and don't care if I get anything. Still, one of my favorite gifts ever was a "just because" gift from my husband. It was one single item, in a small box. It was my first iPod. ;)

5. Do you ever lose track of days and show up somewhere wrong?

Yes. It's embarrassing to say, but I have. 

NaBloPoMo Day 3: Soaking Up the Sun

This is a picture I took of Bailey yesterday. This is what she does every day though. She follows the sun around the living room. It doesn't matter how small a sliver of sun it is, if she can wedge herself into it, she's laying in it. As you can see by her hind end, the sliver of sun was only about 1/2 an inch wide but she tried laying in it nonetheless.

The first thing I do in the mornings is open up the blinds in the front window so that as soon as the sun angles in that window, she can lay in it. If I forget, she shoots me dirty looks until I remember. If it happens to be a cloudy day, she gives me these looks like it's my fault.

Who's really the boss in my house??

NaBloPoMo Day 2: New Hobby

I taught myself how to crochet a few years ago. This stemmed from my mother-in-law teaching the oldest child how to crochet. It's kind of hard for lessons to continue when your teacher is hundreds of miles away, so when my daughter had questions or got stuck, she kept asking me what to do. I didn't know, so I bought some books and we learned together. The oldest child has since lost interest in crocheting but I pick it up from time to time mostly during the colder months in the year. It's hard to crochet something with alpaca yarn, for instance, when it's 90 degrees outside.

A while back, last winter or so, I decided that I wanted to learn how to knit as well. So again, I bought a book and some beginner materials and gave it a go. From the book, I couldn't even figure out how to get started so I gave it up after just a couple attempts. Recently, I've been reading a series of books set in the 1700's where people, mostly women, did needle crafts not just to pass the time but because it's how they clothed their families. Reading these books gave me the urge to want to try knitting again. This time, I Googled "knitting help" and found some really great online videos which made all the difference. After just a couple days, not only have I been able to figure out the rudiments of knitting, but I've started my first project. It's just a simple beginner pattern, but it's coming along and I've only made one minor mistake that I'm hoping will only be noticeable to someone who knows what they're looking at, lol. 

Now I cross stitch, crochet, and knit. The kids and the husband say my inner grandma is showing herself, but I like it and it's soothing to my mind. Besides, from what I've read, needle crafts are all the rage amongst 20 and 30 somethings. I can't wait to be able to knit socks. I love socks.

Here's the website I've been using for anyone interested. Knitting Help

NaBloPoMo Day 1: Halloween Aftermath

The reason I don't like Halloween is because usually it involves yelling, screaming, and crying. I don't  know why getting ready to trick or treat is torture but it is. This year, however, went off without a hitch. We had one small ouchy moment but I barely had to raise my voice.

The youngest went as Bat Girl and she went trick or treating with her friend and her friend's mom. The oldest, who is too old to go trick or treating IMO, went as a fairy and she went trick or treating with several of her friends around the neighborhood. They had originally planned on going to a haunted house but decided that they wanted candy instead.

The Mister and I stayed home with Bailey who dressed up as a frog and gave out candy. Everyone who saw Bailey thought it was funny that she was a dog dressed up as a frog because it rhymed. One kid called her a "frdog", lol. That wasn't why we picked out that costume but it turned out to be a crowd pleaser. She even got her toenails painted green to match. We ran out of candy after an hour and 45 minutes. We had a crazy amount of kids in our neighborhood. Dozens of cars were parked here from people that came to trick or treat from other neighborhoods too. The most popular costume by far was Mario and Luigi. I only saw one Angry Bird and was pretty surprised by that. Only one Pooh too.

Overall, it was a pretty decent night.

Bah Humbug

Wrong holiday, right sentiment. Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I blame my kids. But whatever.

One thing I do like about this time of year is watching scary movies. I likes all kinds from the slasher types to the psychological/suspenseful types. The Mister and I watched Paranormal Activity 1 on Netflix (Yep, I'm still a subscriber having faith that the powers that be at Netflix will eventually pull their heads out of their butts) and it was ok. It was kind of predictable but it still made me jump at times. The funny thing about it was that when we went to watch it, we had the option to "resume" meaning that someone else had already started it. Turns out the oldest child tried watching it by herself and got too creeped out to finish it, lmao.

Last night, we watched the ending of The Exorcist with the oldest child. I've seen the whole movie before and IMO, all you need to watch is the last 30 minutes of it. I've always thought this movie was silly more than scary. Maybe you have to be Catholic to completely appreciate it. I dunno.

The Mister and I also watched a paranormal investigation show on the Lizzy Borden house. They didn't find anything conclusive, lol. Oh wells.

To prove that I'm not a totally buzz kill when it comes to this holiday below are some pictures from yesterday and last week.

5 Question Friday

 

1. Do you prefer cotton, silk, or flannel sheets?

 

I've never had silk sheets so I can't say whether or not I'd like them. Living in Vermont, we had flannel sheets and when it's 40 below outside, they are wonderful to have on your bed. Overall, I prefer good quality, high thread count, cotton sheets. 

2. What time zone are you in?

 

I'm in the Pacific time zone. Yuppers.

3. What is your favorite part of the holiday season?

 

Thanksgiving by far. Thanksgiving is all about family and food. It's not about getting the most candy, buying presents, or pretending that there's a mysterious bunny that leaves baskets in your house. It's straightforward and involves turkey comas. What's not to love?

4. What is your favorite "wintry" drink? (It doesn't have to be an "alcoholic" drink!) 

Hmm. I'm not sure that I have one. I like hot tea and coffee but I drink that year around.

5. In your opinion, what is the worst job in the world?

 

I don't know. Most people are just happy to have any job nowadays. I would say the medieval job of wiping the king's butt had to suck or being a whipping boy but those jobs don't exist (to my knowledge) today. 

Looking Through the Window

The Children's Pool at La Jolla, CA

What have I been up to lately? I don't call anyone, I don't blog regularly, and I only post generalized snippets of my life via Twitter and/or Facebook. I feel very out of touch.

So, the Mister and I went to see the Foo Fighters at Viejas Arena last week. Cage the Elephant opened for them. It was the best concert I've ever been to. Granted, I haven't been to a lot of concerts, but the Foo definitely comes out on top and I can't imagine a better show. The concert was on a Monday and we didn't get home until after midnight. Getting up at 6:20 the next morning with the kids was rough, lol. Worth it though. I was tired, had an ear ache and a sore throat on Tuesday, but it was all worth it to see Uncle Dave and the boys.

The oldest child is currently enjoying the longest and most severe grounding of her life. I won't go into the details except to say that if she ever deserved to be whipped, this would have been the time. Other than that, she is finishing up the football season with the band on Friday. She has her first competition on Saturday. Despite her complaints, she has had fun being in the marching band this year. It still remains to be seen whether or not she'll stick with it next year.

The youngest is still the same. She gets her homework done as fast as possible and goes outside until it's dark enough to come in. On the weekends, she's out the door as fast as she can to come in at dark. She's so tanned and her hair is so sun bleached that she doesn't even look related to the rest of us. Saturday, she's going to her first party as a middle school kid. It's Halloween themed so I'm sure it'll be a good time.

The Mister got his associates degree certificate in the mail the other day. He actually could have gotten it a long time ago but kept putting off taking biology, his last requirement for the degree. Very soon he'll have his bachelor's in hand. Other than school and work and going to concerts with me ;), that's about all he's up to. No deployments on the horizon as of this writing. Things like this can change in an instant though.

As for me, I'm in transition. I feel like I've either hit the "finding myself phase" of early adulthood very late or I'm having a midlife crisis very early, lmao. My clients were regularly pissing me off (sorry to any of them reading this) so I started siphoning them off until I was down to zero. I was planning on getting a job outside of the house not realizing what life would be like once the kids were in high school and junior high respectively. Unless I want to work from 5 pm to 6 am, and I don't, finding a job outside the house will be really tough for me. Likewise, school has been put on hold indefinitely. I have run out of financial aid so until I figure out a way to pay for it out of pocket, school isn't likely right now. I have to say, I'm not that sorry about it. I was only going through the motions and doing the minimal amount of work necessary to maintain my GPA. I wasn't enjoying any of my classes or actually learning anything. My only regret is all the time and money I wasted going to school when I wasn't getting anything from the experience.

In the interim, I have started a historical research project that I find fascinating, engaging, and fulfilling. It's still in the early stages so I don't have anything to say about it yet.

I'm also loving living life in California. In the less than two years we've lived here, the Mister and I have been to two concerts, one symphony and our anniversary vacation to Paso Robles. As a family, we've been to Sea World twice, Seaport Village, Julian, Balboa Park, numerous baseball games, the book fair at UCLA, to the desert to visit Jennifer, and other outings around the San Diego area. The kids have been to the zoo, the wild animal park, Old Town as well as many others. Not to mention all the fabulous shopping we've done. That's more than we did the entire six years we lived away from San Diego. California suits us.