Christmas is coming . . . *Peeks around corner*

I am feeling somewhat depressed today, but I'll try not to be all Grinchy. At least on "paper". First things first, and I must announce that my room is a disaster. I basically beat myself to death last week during the busiest workday EVER (no joke) and went straight home to clean the house (I really did clean almost the whole house)for my daughter's birthday party the next day. I just about died of exhaustion, but I had to go back to work first thing in the morning and clean up after the insanely busy day before. I think I'm still recovering, actually. The good news is that I have survived to sludge through another day.

It finally feels like November outside, and I am really trying to convince myself that Thanksgiving is practically here and that means that Christmas is less than six weeks away! *Screaming* I love Christmas, it is my favorite holiday. I love the decorations, the feeling, the month, the presents, and especially the lights. And the food, holy moley. I'm a food lover, and the holiday season is paradise for me.

But last week I started panicking (literally, I panicked) about Christmas presents. I am poor, like, seriously poor. Food Stamps and Medicaid poor. So we have no money for presents until my husband gets a new job, which could be within a month or two, or could be as far as six months away. So I was trying to think of stuff I could make for presents, and I had some great ideas, but they would take up a ridiculous amount of time that I don't have either. So I'm contemplating something deeply irresponsible . . . a Target credit card. I know, that is so bad, but I don't have any real brilliant ideas otherwise. Bad, naughty me.

Side Note: So my sister in law is getting married in January, and she's having a snowflake themed wedding. Trying to trace a snowflake pattern on felt is IMPOSSIBLE unless you want to spend twice as much time tracing as you will cutting. It it ridiculous. However, parchment paper snowflakes are quite easy, and very purty.

Ok, since I got two, count 'em, TWO hours of sleep last night (not kidding, not exaggerating), I think I'm going to go nap now. I like naps. I love naps. Me and naps are like this *crosses fingers*. So good day to you all, imaginary audience, and I hope you don't panic that Christmas is now 5 and a half weeks away. *Screaming*

The Magical Moments of Halloween

Howdy pard'ners! Ok, so I read part of a cowboy romance book today, now I'm talking in a Southern accent. And after being completely immersed in the crazy world of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland for the past few weeks, it's kind of a weird change. I've been thinking in quotes and talking in accents from that movie while I've been working on my costume, which turned out really good! And I made the whole hat, by myself. It took masticating a cardboard box, using 2 sticks of glue with my hot glue gun, and half a yard of fabric to achieve it. But it looks really awesome!!! There is only one sad part to the hat . . . somewhere between taping it together and gluing on the brim, we lost some space and it doesn't fit on my head! *Facepalm!* But it still looks great!!! And I made wonderful gloves and lace cuffs, a big floppy tie like his, and I did a wonderful coat and I found the perfect shoes at DI!!! They were only $6, and they fit me! It was a completely magical moment, I nearly cried.

Anyway, Halloween was fun, my daughter got to be Tigger and I, of course, was the Mad Hatter. We did a pumpkin carving party with my Mom's side of the family on Friday and my Dad and I took a battery-fetching sabbatical to Costco and saw my sister-in-law there. And on Saturday after work I went with my daughter, father-in-law, and another sister-in-law to go Trick or Treating along Main Street and Trunk or Treating at the grocery store. It was way fun. And on Sunday we went up to my Mom and Dad's house and had a ball! We had dinner in a pumpkin (no, we did not dine inside a pumpkin, we put dinner INSIDE a pumpkin and ate out of it. Yes, one of my friends did think that I meant we were going to be dining inside a pumpkin, and I laughed hysterically) and listened to Halloween music and had homemade root beer with dry ice. We had sooo much fun playing with the dry ice fog, and got some great pictures.

So, funny story. I am seriously laughing as I write this. My daughter, over the course of a few hours, sneakily stole all of the leftover Halloween candy we had been handing out and hid it. She brought me the empty bowl and said, "All gone!", all proud of herself, and I wondered where she had put it. So the next day, she goes running into the front room and my husband and I are watching her, all confused, and she goes to her pink princess chair and starts pulling out handfulls of Laffy Taffy! Like, an armload of stolen candy!!! We laughed so hard, and then she started passing them out to us. Oh, it was great!

Anyway, I'm being seven kinds of distracted right now watching a show with my sister-in-law, so I'm running away now. See ya!

Two Thumbs Up!

Ok, I just woke up from a bit of a catnap with my daughter. I am still tired, and therefore do not understand the rave about catnaps. But since it's 8:45 and I shouldn't be sleeping anyway, I'll let it pass. So now I am on my computer for the first time all day (shocker, I know), and the first link I clicked on from my homepage took me to the cast for the new The Hobbit movie that they've been trying to get going for years. And, if I am recalling correctly, Kili and Fili are two Elf brothers or cousins or something (I only made it halfway through the book, but I did watch the animated movie). My completely and hearty approval for the choices of those two actors!!!! Holy hotness! I am so very, very excited to see this movie now, even more excited than I was before, because I can now look forward to seeing those two actors. I feel like I'm in high school again. *Breathy, girlish sigh*

Onto other news . . . for Halloween I want to be Tarrant Hightop, the Mad Hatter that Johnny Depp (*swoons*) played in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. Well, there were and still are a few problems with that plan: I had NONE of the costume. Like, seriously, none. Not the hat, bowtie, shirt, coat, pants, socks, shoes, hair, the white face makeup, NONE OF IT! Well, after spending my $20 gift card at JoAnn's and taking a sneaky and not quite approved trip to Walmart, I got the fabric and pattern for the coat! I know, it would be 1000 times easier to buy the thing, except, the coat I want, a frock coat, is upwards of at least $50 online. I don't have that kind of cash, but I have exciting news on the matter . . . I made the coat! And it was surprisingly easy, once I quit being stupid and sewing the pieces together wrong. I made it out of brown costume satin (but turned the other way, so it was shiny side in), stretchy brown velour/velvet stuff for the collar and cuffs, and I even did lining, fell free to be impressed. I am so proud of myself! The only things I have left to do it hand sew a bit of trim on, and slip stitch the lining in place at the bottom and waist. I wore it out to lunch with one of my best buds today, and she said it was awesome, and I wore it to work too, and they were all suitably impressed. And I felt all sorts of awesome, wearing my Mad Hatter/Pirate coat. It makes me all sorts of warm and gooey inside. Oh, and I bought the white face makeup for my costume, and I already had the other makeup needed. So now I just need . . . all the other stuff. I can borrow the crazy socks from my sister in law, and the pink shirt should be easy, and lacy cuffs should be easy. And hopefully the fingerless gloves. I need to go to DI. They have everything there.

In other news, I finally read my stack of Dr. Seuss books I got from the library! I've had them for at least 2 weeks, and I finally squeezed in some personal time to read them. I read The Sleep Book last week and had the funnest Kid Moment. My dad used to read us that book all the time when we were little, and you have never heard Dr. Seuss until you've heard it read by my dad. He was about 17 different kinds of amazing. He could read it so fast, and he never messed up, and when I was reading it last week I could just hear his voice while I read it. It was the coolest thing ever. That is still my very favorite Dr. Seuss book, and I just read Oh The Places You'll Go for the first time, and that contends for second place next to Scrambled Eggs Super. I love Dr. Seuss. Brilliant, brilliant, genius man.

Ok, I may be done yammering on for now, and it's almost time to get my two year old out of the tub (she saw one of those Pillow Pets for the first time the other day . . . she latched onto the unicorn, gave it a HUGE hug, and didn't let go til we got to the checkout. Now we know what to get her for her birthday . . . ) and put her to bed. So, bonsoir everyone, have a lovely night!

For the Love of Autumn . . .

Today I'm talking about autumn, at least I'll start talking about that, we'll see where else it goes. Our neighbor across the street has a big tree, I'm not sure what kind, but every October all of it's leaves turn yellow. They're doing that now, almost all of them are this gorgeous golden yellow color that is the very color of happiness. The picture almost nails it, but think all highlighted by the setting sun and just that much more cheerful. And then, after they are all yellow and golden and gorgeous, they will all DROP, within twelve hours. It's like a slightly longer version of the Whomping Willow in the Harry Potter movies. It's hysterical. Last year we went up to my mom's for the day when it was all leafy and yellow, and when we came back, the tree was naked. I laughed really hard and my husband looked at me funny.

Ok, so aside from my deep and desperate love of autumn, I have been crazy busy to the extreme the past few weeks. Last night I was going crazy doing stuff on my computer. I had both laptops on (have I mentioned yet that I got a new one? Well, I DID! And it's gorgeous and fast and perfect, I love it), I was talking to one of my best buds on MSN messenger, and I had not one, not two, but THREE ideas for muses and I was also burning myself a new mix, or at least trying to (it was Mix 16, if anyone cares. Yes, I have 16 mixes. And that's not counting my Country and Oldies Mixes, Country Mix, and Rock Mix). It was overwhelming and crazy and I was all psycho for a minute, but I lived to tell the tale. I even managed to make my bed today. I didn't until almost 2:30, but it got done. And that was even after work, which was intense.

I'm very excited for Halloween. My mom is all sorts of crazy about holidays (I may have mentioned this), and Halloween is no exception. She used to make us costumes when me and my brother and siser were little, and she's not been able to do as much in the past few years because of health problems, but this year she's making my littlest sister a bunny (at least, that was the last report) and my littlest brother might have said something about being a ninja. I have no idea what to do for my daughter. My husband said he wants to be Batman, and she can be Batgirl, but that costume at Walmart is $20. I am not paying $20 for a costume she will wear all of once. Okay, she might wear it more than once, but still. $20 for a little knee length black vinyl skirt, a tank top with a yellow Batman symbol, and a mask. Perhaps shoe covers. So not worth it. I could make the whole thing for maybe $5-10 and they'd be warmer and cuter. It's cold in Utah in October, sorta, and we've had a few Halloweens when it was snowing. So, the jury is still out on that. I might make her a princess, there was an adorable dress at Target for $12 (now THAT I can handle).

Okay, one more topic then I'm leaving before I finish writing a novel . . . *casting around for a topic* . . . I have one. Laundry. I have a hamper sitting ominously at the end of my bed, full of laundry. It is taunting me. Because as soon as I fold it and put it away, there will be more laundry to wash . . . and fold . . . and put away . . . and wear . . . and wash . . . and so the vicious cycle goes. I need to just knuckle down and do it, but I just don't wanna! *Throws childish temper tantrum* Alright, on that note I should leave. I am either going to force a muse out or fold laundry or become completely distracted by something else. Probably tickling my daughter, who keeps expecting my hand to dart out and get her tummy. She keeps bouncing on the bed on her knees towards me, to see if I'll go at her. So ta-ta for now, be good while I'm gone. Clean up your messes that you make.

Conference Weekend

Hi all. Today is the second day of General Conference (I think I've said before, but I'm LDS and General Conference happens twice a year for us, it's this awesome church meeting that is broadcasted worldwide and our church leaders give amazing talks and it's just so many kinds of cool) and I sadly missed yesterday because I was at work. But after the second session today (there are 4 sessions, two each day from 10 am to 12 pm, then 2 to 4 pm) I'm going to watch the ones from yesterday. I missed half of the one this morning, too, because my stupid phone alarm didn't go off. Grr. But I'll just watch it online, and since my hubby hooked up his desktop computer to our TV, I can even watch it on our big TV! Yay me! The picture is of the new Tabernacle in Salt Lake City (I call it the Supernacle, since it's HUGE and lots bigger than the old one across the street with the shiny turtle roof), where Conference is held.

Ok, so news on my book. We had some sort of . . . we'll just call it a misunderstanding about how much it would cost for mem to get my book printed. I understood it to be about $60 for 15 paperback books. It's actually about $25 PER BOOK with an additional $35 for setting it all up. (The first word that came to my head was RIPOFF, but I was nice and kept that word to myself). So I'm getting 3 copies for $78. *Wincing a little* A couple people have already called dibs on a copy, but to make things affordable since I doubt anyone will want to pay $35 for a teeny little book (the printers also futzed up the sizing, so the font is teeny and therefore the book is teeny and it's all just annoying). So I'm going to reformat the document and print if off myself, then take it to a different copy store and do spiral binding. Cheaper, and I can make sure everything is how I want it that way. I'm picky. And that way people can actually buy a book that they can read that won't cost them an arm and a leg.

In other news, I tried out 2 new recipes this last week, both of them truffles. They were super simple, and the one with cream and butter turned out fabulous, and the one with cream cheese was very delectable as well, although I did like the first one better. And I have a recipe for tomato and red pepper soup that I've had before that is so many kinds of divine, and I think I'm gonna make that sometime today. Maybe for dinner . . .

Well, I'm gonna go now, the last session of Conference starts in 5 minutes and I'm going to watch the whole thing if it kills me. Love to all!

Excitement in my life!

You know, I had this same problem with diaries. For the first few weeks (days) I wrote in it every day, I was very diligent about it, and then . . . nothing. The poor thing got abandoned until I had an emotional overload. Well, this isn't an emotional overload, that was last week. All week. I think I frightened people. I kinda frightened myself. Anyway, totally off the subject there, the point was that I suspect that I am going to be terrible at this whole blog thing from now on. I will make an honest effort to post something at least once a week, but no promises. Perhaps if I get bugged about it, I'll write more, but I don't honestly think anyone actually reads this stuff, so, my dear imaginary audience, you'll just have to survive with what you get.

The real purpose of this blog is . . . *looks right* . . . *looks left* . . . I am getting my book printed!!! I may or may not have mentioned this book (I should probably go back and read what I've written aready, huh?), but it's a contemporary romance and I have finished it and I'm going to send it to be printed on Thursday! I am so excited and for some reason I am completely FREAKING OUT about it! I am strange this way.

I put an excerpt on my Facebook page, asking if anyone would be interested in buying a copy, and what anyone thought. Now, this next part is sad. I got no comments. Nothing. I put up a note with the excerpt and then mentioned it as my status, and no one said a thing. No "Cool" or "Good job" or even "It's not my thing, but that's nifty". Nothing. I'll be honest, I'm a little hurt. This book is like a hugely momentous thing for me, and it was like nobody cared. But anyway, I do know of at least 2, maybe 3 people that want it besides me, so that's really cool. I'm gonna get it printed and I confess, when I hold my book for the first time, a real, honest to goodness book, not just a file on my computer, I might actually cry. And I rarely cry. The picture up there is what I hope will be the cover, if everything I'm doing cooperates and all that jazz. Pretty, huh? I actually drew that, feel free to be impressed.

So, imaginary audience, if any of you would be interested in reading the ignored excerpt, do let me know, I would be more than happy to email it to you. I was going to post it here, but that would make this entry ridiculously long and I don't think you want that. But the story line goes as follows: Brian is a ridiculously wealthy businessman with nothing much in his life but work. Samantha is a frustrated waitress with not much in her life at all. After a first meeting gone wrong, they meet again and end up plunging headfirst into an adventure that neither of them ever expected.

You want me to give away some of it? Ok, ok, don't be so pushy! *Chuckling at self* I crack myself up. Anyway, so after the first meeting gone wrong (not gonna tell how that goes), they meet at a bar with their friends and in this bar they get . . . married! To quote a line, "Totally legit, just like Vegas." And the rest is just amusing, and according to my friend who volunteered to be my editor, there are some parts that are soooo cute, and some parts that make you fall in love, and, to quote directly, a "fabulous ending". *Squees and hugs self* I'm glad it's not all in my head, seriously. It's great that I crack myself up and get warm fuzzies from my writing, but to know someone else does too is like my ego getting shot of straight caffeine.

Ok, I think, since it is 2 in the morning, that I should go to bed, but first I have a funny story. It is only funny right now because of how completely, awfully, ridiculous it is. I mean, seriously, who has luck this bad?! So, about a month ago, our water heater broke. Within a week of that, 6 of the computers in the house crashed, and a couple had the hard drives completely wiped. Soon after that we discovered that a pipe behind the washer and dryer was leaking all over and rotting the drywall. Then our blue car died. Then the shocks just fell off my husband's scooter (think an automatic motorcycle). This past week everyone in the house got sick. And today? The oven died. Like, oven, stove, whole thing, dead. SERIOUSLY?!?!?!? If it weren't 2 in the morning, I would be laughing my head off right now. So, yeah, that's my funny story. I am considering buying a lucky rabbit's foot and wearing a horseshoe around my neck. I need all the help I can get!

I am going to go wander off to sleep now, since I have an early day tomorrow, and I will seriously try to post again within the next few days. Loves to all!

Terrible, horrible, awful, no good, very bad day.

I feel like I just got kicked in the stomach. I found out some extremely distressing news, and though I'm not as shocked and hurt as I was when I first found out, I still have that awful feeling in my stomach and chest. No, I am not saying what this distressing news is, let's just say it's right up there with family members dying and having your identity stolen by a terrorist.

So, whilst we wander away from that subject (my stomach is in knots again) I have fun news to report. This week my parents in law went on a week-long reunion in the Tetons. Normally we all go, but this year we couldn't afford it, my and my hubby both had work, and he had school. His finals are next week, so blowing all that off wasn't an option. Anyway, it was just my little family and my two sisters in law. Well, the week went pretty ok until Wednesday night. It was my best friend's birthday, and she wanted to hang out.

Long story short, due to unforseeable dinner circumstances that I wasn't told about, I ended up coming home almost 2 hours after I planned. This caused a rather explosive and immature fight between myself and my sister in law, which we got over fairly quickly, but for the good of everyone's sanity we spent the rest of the week in separate houses. (This isn't the fun news, by the way, we're getting there). So, on Thursday, my other sister in law went to join her parents camping for the rest of the week so all night Thursday and all day and night Friday we had the house to ourselves!!! Anyone who has ever lived with relatives knows exactly what I'm talking about when I say that it was so different and delightful and relaxing.

Anyway, we're finally at the fun part. We built a tent in our front room out of sheets and bandanas! We had two big sheets stretched over the sectional and tied to chairs and pinned to the walls, and another one covering the gap over the back of the couch and another for the door. It was barely three feet tall at the tallest spot, but it was so fun! We got ice cream and chips and watched movies with our daughter under it, and she thought it was rather the coolest thing ever! I wanted to leave it up until everyone got back from camping, but we figured they would probably want to put their stuff on the floor right where our little tent was, so we reluctantly dismantled it last night. :(

In other news, that same sprained ankle I had, like, a month ago is still not better. I was at my mom's house last week with all my siblings and two cousins and we all did an impromptu performance of the Boot Scootin' Boogie in the dining room (long story, involving internet karaoke, my dad imitating John Travola in Grease, and EFY dances) and I discovered that I am incapable of jumping or skipping without pain on that ankle. Still! How stupid is this! I find it quite inconvenient. I guess it's a good thing that librarians don't often find themselves in need of jumping on one foot.

Ooh, I thought of another fun thing! My little family had a water fight on Thursday. It started out with me filling up the teeny blow-up turtle pool that Sammy likes to play in, then I decided to brush our black lab and got out enough hair to make a whole 'nother dog, then decided to give him a bath. Well, if you have a running hose and a mischievous husband about, you're just asking for it. So, after taking turns with the hose and the bucket, all three of us were completely drenched (except for the dog, who after having his bath steered WAY clear of the water). Then we turned the sprinklers on in the front yard and got drencheder (I know it's not a word, shut up). I'm so ready for summer to end now, we've gone swimming and had a water fight and all that summer stuff. Please bring me autumn!!!

Ok, I'm running out of things to say, so I'm gonna go and try to figure out what to make for dinner that doesn't require cheese, potatoes, hamburger patties, oil, milk, or prefferably an oven since it's almost 80 degrees in the house even with the AC on. Have a lovely day, I sincerely hope yours is a billion times better than mine!!!