top 10 most stolen cars...

The full Hot Wheels list:


1. 1994 Honda Accord

2. 1998 Honda Civic

3. 2006 Ford F-Series

4. 1991 Toyota Camry

5. 2000 Dodge Caravan (Mine was a 1998, but there you have it.)

6. 1994 Acura Integra

7. 1999 Chevrolet Silverado

8. 2004 Dodge Ram

9. 2002 Ford Explorer

10. 1994 Nissan Sentra

post and rail

I didn't get very far on the porch project Tuesday, because my (just bought rusty old wonderful) van was stolen from my work's parking lot and I had to spend most of the evening filling out police reports and getting a ride home.  And then I was just emotionally exhausted after reading my insurance policy and realizing that I didn't elect full coverage that I just sat around feeling sorry for myself for the rest of the day.

But yesterday, I tightened my bootstraps and got back to work.  After a few swear words, Mark's good idea and some luck, the top rail came on very easily.  We still need to make a minor adjustment to how it is seated, but we have a front rail.  We *hope* we can install the two side rails AND get the shopping and floor prep done tonight to start installing 600 square foot of hard wood flooring tomorrow.

4 weeks of home ownership

... buy stock in Home Depot right now.  I'm giving you great investment advice.

I swear, I am there at least four times every day on the weekend and at least as many times during the work week.  I'm breaking myself in half with long burning days of hard physical labor.  And I don't have a whole lot to show for it, except the nickname my neighbors gave me: Roberta Villa.

Mark typically keeps the kids busy while I work on our renovation.  He helps here and there, but is the first to admit that he is in uncharted territory... table saw territory.  And he leaves that kind of dangerous exploring to me, since I've been down here before back in my farm girl days.

What did I do this weekend?

Basically, I built a box frame from 2 x "6" and carraige bolted it to the porch joist for security.  Then I wrapped it in plywood and started the tedious process of trimming it to match my other colonial square porch posts.

Some things I learned: The lumber industry is totally robbing us. Did you know that a 1 x 3 is actually only 1 x 2.275? Same with a 2 x 6. It's more like 2 x 5.4. I'm making a porch post that is supposed to look like the other porch posts, and I can't find lumber with the same dimensions! What a rip! (So mine looks weird.)

Also, because it look much longer than I expected and six trips to home depot, I stopped short of trimming the full box and moved on to building the porch rail.  Because the whole point was to create something to fasten the rail to so that we could enclose our raised porch with safety railing so our babies don't plummet to their deaths.  (Which Viola would love to do, I'm sure.)

Of course, the rail is not finished.  I got half the stuff at Lowes and half at Home Depot, because Home Depot did not have pretty turned colonial spinnets and Lowes did not have nested pre-drilled rail connectors.  As it turns out the two kit systems are not compatible (of course!)  So that's why there is no top rail yet.  It will still work, but with work.  So, now you know what I 'm doing over the work week, besides trying to ready the house to install the new wood floors on Friday.

I have a splinter in my thumb. Boo-hoo. Cry on my behalf and send me a get well soon card.

Meanwhile, we met more of our neighbors and got more history.  Back on Jul 4, 1969, there was a tornado down our street.  That's why the trees are smaller now than they used to be.  I guess a bunch of people died, because it came in off the lake park where everyone was gathered to watch the fireworks.  Also, we have three generations of several families who have lived on this street their whole lives.  We found out that the second generation had all boys, so the street used to be a bunch of young boys playing. But all those boys have daughters, so now there are at least twelve girls under age 4 in the few houses near ours on our street (and one lonely boy.)  I love it!

Also, I pierced my nose.  It's cute.

home in 3 days

Ever since we closed on our home two weeks ago today (wow that went fast) we've been breaking our backs getting it move in ready.  I took 7 days off work.  We cleaned, cleaned some more, used a grinder to remove soft mortar and some unstable bricks from the basement wall and repointed them, wire brushed the brick to remove chipped, loose paint, cleaned the walls really well and brushed on a couple of coats of waterproofing paint.  (Mark says we know karate now.)

Man, does it make a huge difference down there... the photo grid shows various stages to complete.



Then we took on paint.  Since the house is 110 years old, it has lead-based paint in it.  Just to be on the safe side, we tested all the areas where paint was chipping.  Most of it was okay.  But, for the areas where the test was positive, we abated by removing the loose with a gel that traps the yuck into your disposable cloth and hit it with a special, thick sealer paint.  Then, for best measure, we are coating everything with yet another coat of fresh paint between our babies and the yucky stuff.  It took us three straight 18 hour days of two people working to get the painting this far, where the major areas have at least 2 coats and we just have to hit the edges and trim.

 But, again... Oh man does it look much better already.  The colors we chose really bring out the highlights of the stained glass.  The window treatments are at the dry cleaner, but it's going to be beautiful, I think. 

We also tore out the floor in the foyer upstairs to put in a new subfloor before we lay the new wood floors.  Mark removed the china cabinet doors, drawers, and hardware so we can refinish them (lead) later in the garage away from the babies... We found part of the beautiful textured wallpaper behind a mirror above the fireplace, but there was not enought there to save it... :( 

Despite the fact that the house is still pretty torn up and needs at least two more days of cleaning and prepping before we move in, we decided that it's about time we start filling boxes and working on exiting the old house.  Mark already packed over 15 boxes and thinks he needs at least 30 more... so much work.

Who needs to go to the gym when you have a house?

getter done

We have an appointment to sign the contracts and close our loan... on Monday.  Thank you, Heavenly Father, for finally helping me understand the meaning of "eternity" and for bringing it to an end for this process.

almost home...

We have been talking about buying this house for such a long time that lots of people think we are already in it.  As it turns out, it actually IS annoying to buy a house.  It seemed pretty easy when all I was doing was responding to non-stop requests for information for the first few months.  But, it is still almost done.  We had to switch the type of loan we were getting and make some sacrifices on our timeline and budget for the needed renovation, but we should be homeowners by the end of next week at the latest (but I've heard that before...) 

The first thing we need to do when we get the keys is tackle some safety concerns... there are 100 spider nests, some peeling (probably lead) paint, and a few missing floor boards. 

But the next first thing we need to do is turn this Noah's Arc into a summer haven for grilling and chilling.  That closed in porch has got to go.

This will be the first time since Mark and I built a skateboard trick box together, which revealed that our power tool wielding styles are in conflict, that we pick up hammers and face each other off again.  Who will survive?  Only time will tell.

We will ply the panels off, trim off the edges, sand and paint the porch ceiling and floor, and install a nice victorian rail (from a kit.)  It seems like a reasonable first attempt at DIY and sweat equity.  I might unlease my inner artist and go Edward Scissorhands on those ugly bushes... maybe if they were spiral shaped with something flowery growing around them... and vines coming up the rails of the porch...

Our next task will be to unravel the mystery of the downspout that goes straight into the ground.  And I'm sure we have some spring gutter cleaning to do.  (I need to relish the fact that this is probably the only time I will ever look forward to that task.)

I am so blissed that I found these pictures thanks to online archiving of the Cleveland area history.  This is a pic of our new street... looking South from the Nickel Plate Rail crossing back in 1930. 

This shot from Google Streetview illustrates how very little things have changed... except that there are a lot of beautiful trees that have gone missing over time.  That's too bad, because that is one of the things Mark always talks about wanting... trees along the lane. 

Here is a shot of the intersection where our street hits the main road looking East, just a short block from our house back in 1965.  Some of the same shops are still there.

And back in 1964, this anonymous guy stood out in the middle of the street (did his mother teach him nothing about getting hit by a car?) in front of what would notoriously soon become the humble Cleveland beginnings of the famous McCowen Empire.

I don't know about you, but I just love this stuff.

on the table

• I love that Mark is updating his blog a lot.  I don't need to detail what we've been up to lately, because he is doing a good job of that.  Check my sidebar.
• Viola learned to climb onto the kitchen table yesterday.  Now she can try to parachute with her diaper to her death from a higher elevation.
• We have S from AZ as a guest for summer who arrived yesterday.  More fun coming.
• The bank pushed our home close date again: Jul 16.  The procrastination never ends.
• Mark and I are buying my mom's house out of the family trust.  If you are a vested interest and I haven't included you in the conversation, please let me know.

Viola is a very happy person right now, so I assume that I'm feeding off of her positive, contagious energy.  I'm so busy and have so many competing priorities but I'm satisfied about what I'm getting out of this hectic life right now more than usual.  Perhaps that is why I was so fascinated by this info I heard about a scientific study on happiness.  These 5 things make people happier:

• Connect with people and build on your relationships.
• 
  Be active; Go outside, Get exercise
• Pay attention to yourself and your world.  Being aware of your world gives you more control over yourself, your expectations and interactions.  Have some quiet reflective time each day.
• Keep learning.  Feed your natural curiousity and explore new things, skills, ideas, etc.
• Give as much as you can to others.  Serving yourself does less to build happiness as serving others.
  
   

trek

I got my birthday bike in the mail today.  My boss gave it to me as a spot bonus / going away present for my hard work lately... I am definitely still earning it.  I've been doing 12 hour days all week with at least a few more months of this ahead.  I long for the good old days on the Catastrophe Modeling Team with a steady, manageable work flow. 

I was thinking about listing all the Summer-Fun-O-Rama... but you should know by now... it's going to be a marathon of unbelievable proportions at our place.  I'll just try to keep you posted on a week to week basis.  We already kicked it off with three road trips in two weeks... Detroit, MI; Wooster, OH; and Pittsburg.  Pictures and details are on Mark's blog (see the link on my sidebar.)

As usual, we'll probably do more in this summer than most people do in a normal lifetime. I hope you enjoy boring Mommy blog posts about road trip after road trip... and stories about babies eating cardboard boxes,

Speaking of which, my bike came in this enormous box... which Viola used to _____ (try to climb on the coffee table to her death with... Of course.)

Oh, and we have a pool at our apartment... last summer I took Z once and thought is was gross and the tile was cracked and I didn't want her to touch the side of the pool because god knows what was growing in there.  This Spring, they completely resurfaced the inside, painted and cleaned it, and got new patio furniture out there... it looks like a wonderful resort down there.  Awesome.  My babies have matching swimsuits and we're going to wear them out before we leave this place!

12 months

I have been putting the wrong priorities first.  I keep thinking if I work a few extra hours, or work harder, or get X done, then something magical will happen that will make the few difficulties we have in life go away.  The price is that I've missed a lot with Viola.  She's such a cutie... and since I was "too busy" to post anything here - I also have no way of remembering the times we did share.  (Because I'm a bad memory keeper.  Probably why scrapbooking has such an appeal to me... I want to remember the little daily parts of my life that make up the whole... not just the best moments or the vacations or the Christmas mornings... the whole life.)

Viola is fully walking now -- and running.  She stumbles a little like a drunk sometimes, but she can get a move on.  She also has reached the point where she can crawl onto the couch without standing on something.  You might remember that I mentioned previously that she has a suicidal coffee table/couch death wish... it just got crazy.  Daddy now spends about 90% of every day pulling her out of a life compromising position hanging off the couch.

She also plays more interactively with Zola.  They have this favorite game where they take turns screaming into each other's faces.  It's so peaceful to watch them getting along -- .well, it's something.  They follow each other around almost all day, now.  Zola grabs Viola by the hand and says, "Come on, Bi-ya. Let's play toys." Or whatever she wants her to do.  For her part, Viola typically takes the lead when it comes to blows.  She is quite a pincher/hitter and is starting to get more and more mischievous.  I still have a hard time seeing her as the instigator, because she seems so innocent since she's small.  But, we are starting to crack down on some of the things she has taken for granted that she can do.

Since our sliding glass door leads to a small completely childproof balcony with a floor to ceiling window view to everything going on out there, we often leave the door open to allow air, children, and cats to pass freely.   The kids LOVE that balcony.  Zola likes to hold the rail and yell at the neighbors as loud as she can... "Hey, YOU! What you doing? You walking DOG? It's a DOG! What dog DOING?... etc."  And Viola likes to take anything she can get her hands on out there and drop it to the ground below. My daily routine on the return from work is to pick up bottles, toys, hair combs, spoons, sippy cups, etc from the sidewalk.

12 months - V

 Viola is quite a challenge to describe at this age because she is such a big personality and filled with contradictions.  She is extremely laid back and relaxed, and doesn't require a lot of attention.  But, when she needs attention, you best believe she gets it.  She's a complete adventurer with no fear whatsoever and boundless energy, but when she's quiet, she probably just passed out on the ground where she was playing in exhaustion.  She's completely walking now, and only crawls when she's really tired.  She is always on the move.  Even when she's trying to drink her bottle... she lays down for a second but ends up getting up and trying to walk and drink at the same time, which takes more coordination than she has.  She is very clever.  She really, really wants to throw herself off the side of the couch.  I don't know why, but it's a tireless obsession.  She can't quite reach to get her knee up on the couch to get up there, so she is inventive... she will go find something and bring it over to use as a ladder.  She'll pull the couch throw pillows down and use them as stepping stones.  She also figured out that she can pull out the drawers on the side of the coffee table so she was using the inside of the drawer until we flipped it around so that the drawers are on the non-couch side.  Now she pulls out the drawers, uses them to climb up on the coffee table and then tries to Indiana Jones from the coffee table to the couch.  She is determined to die in some kind of couch/coffee table related accident.  You should see her whole right side of her back.  It looks like we took a phone book to it.... but she rarely cries.  She's constantly falling down or getting herself into a scrape.  She just walks it off and keeps trying to kill herself.  Either she's got a very good work ethic or she's not very smart.

 She loves almost everything.  She loves it when you talk to her, hand her things.  She even loves it when Zola rips toys out of her hands, or smacks her on the head with a plastic shovel like a toddler hit man.  She's just flat out happy 99% of the time.  But she make sure the whole world knows when it's her 1% mad time.

She likes to climb on people and throw herself down dramatically onto pillows, dad's crotch, or your face when you least expect it.  She says "daddy" with purpose, and has said "mama" and "kitty" and seems to understand quite a lot of commands (if you say "bye bye" she waves, if you say "come here" she walks over to you, if you say "food" she smacks her lips and so on.) But, she still prefers to just smile rather than make noise.  She recently started dancing, and does this by maneuvering a bunch of squats really fast...  She does watch TV when Zola is getting her allowance of Barney or Sesame Street and seems to be captivated... unfortunately. 

As far as food goes, she is still mostly eating baby food puree and likes mixed vegetables the best, single vegetables second, and fruit comes in last.  She won't eat anything with pureed banana or prune in it and when she doesn't like something, she twists her head and puts her face up against the highchair so you can't put the spoon near her mouth.  She likes finger foods, but we haven't given her too many just because it's logistically difficult at this point to fix three different meals (and unfortunately Zola is becoming more of a specialist eater every day.)

We call her "sister" or "baby" or "viola" and I sometimes call her my "little crazy person" because of her boundless energy and cleverness to figure out how to grab the remote and run out the sliding glass door to the balcony and throw it off the edge before you even realize that you left it in reach... or grabbing the wipes container, figuring out the clasp, and pulling out all of the wipes during the time it takes you to use the restroom.  I expect this stuff from Zola... but I guess it's surprising coming from Viola because she is so small for her age that I sometimes think of her still as a little baby... and Zola definitely was taking her time getting to this level of trouble making aptitude... my little crazy person.  She's going to make life interesting and wonderful.

11 months (V)

This is picture is classic V.  She has SO MUCH personality.  She is so energetic, upbeat, flexible, rambunctious, smiley, and in every way reminds me of Mark.

Z has grown up so much in the last few weeks.  When I left for California, I still thought of her as a baby.  But, after being back for a few weeks, I think of her as a big girl now.  She is so funny.  Here are a few of the funny things she said this week:

"Cool glasses, Dad."
 About dad's driving, "That was fun."
Why she doesn't want to go to bed. "It's dark, and it's too scary."
She knows Sesame Street's characters, and wants to be called "Zoe" after the puppet, instead of her full given name and is constantly correcting everyone.
When sister is crying, "Stop crying.  It's okay.  I got you."
When she falls down, "I'm fine."
As she twirls with her hands in the air. "I'm a ballerina"
"Where's my remote?"
"Can I watch daddy's show?"
"No hitting, Why-oh-ya"
"I want my bwankie." to which mommy replied, "It's a b-L-ankie....  No it's not.  It's a blanket."

Other amusing things I don't know exactly when or where she picked up...
She covers her mouth in a very lady-like way when she coughs.
She is HYPER-POLITE.  Excuse me. (mostly when she wants you to move out of the way)  Thank You (for everything).  I'm sorry (often, but cutest when you accidentally trip over her).  That's okay (when you apologize for accidentally tripping over her).  Please. (with the Cat's eyes from Shrek.)

z;s favorite things are Barney, Elmo, books, trains, helping in the kitchen, brushing her teeth, doing laundry (we have coin op and she likes to put the quarters in), singing and dancing, and giving kisses and hugs.

v's favorite things are crawling and standing (especially if we leave the house... she loves to crawl into the hall of our condo, into the elevator, and into the lobby... no need to pick her up if you want to take her to get the mail) pushing and dragging toys around the house, eating paper/leaves/anything, the cats, her big sister, and she is obsessed with the infant swing that she is too big for now.  She is always trying to crawl into it (I can't wait until we have a place to store it where tempting for her to try to get to.)

Also funny... I have no idea how this will translate.  I was having some kind of weird waking dream the other night and I was leaning over Mark really close.  He started to roll over, and with my face about 2 inches from his, I grabbed his arm really tight and said, "NO~!" and woke both him and myself up.  We both were totally freaked out and went back to sleep.  The next day, he called me at work, and reminded me of this happening.  I had completely forgotten it, but we both ended up laughing so hysterically. I think maybe I was dreaming that we had a newborn baby he was about to rolling over onto or something.  It is so funny what kind of weird things your mind can do.

It's a very busy time.  I hope that things slow down soon, and I can fill you in on all the exciting things that have been going on.

:)

9 months - V

I pierced V's ears yesterday after I took her for her 9 month photos. I really don't know where the time went. She is growing up,

the first viola

I was going to write something about her. But, I can't find the right words. Let the pictures transmit her awesome.

potty time

We got Z a little potty, and we talked about it. But, we haven't been taking her to go sit in it or putting training pants on her or anything. She didn't seem interested. So, we were waiting for her to come around.

Yesterday, she asked daddy if she could go potty. He took her, and on her first try, she used the potty to pee. I am as proud as that first day she put food in her mouth. I am also starting to look forward to not fighting her to get a new diaper on. She is getting strong.

V, on the other hand has, since my last post, completely mastered the pull to stand. She stands up on a dime. Here's a picture.

jolly days

Viola pulled herself up to sitting! She was so proud of herself the first time she did it. And now she is doing it all the time. I just think about her journey through gross motor skills development and it is so much funnier than Zola, who was just happy to sit in one place until someone brought her something to eat. Viola on the other hand has been constantly a wandering soul, whatever it takes. As soon as she figured out how to roll front to back and back to front, she was looking over her shoulder at what she wanted and starting to roll to it. And like those robot vacuums and remote control cars, she would get jammed between chair legs and walls, or ram something she didn't see too hard and it would end badly. But that never stopped her. Then she figured out that the push-up inched her backward a little. So, she'd look back behind herself to orient and start chugging off backward. As soon as she could add the toe-push and go forward like an army man under razor wire, she was unstoppable. Like a snake, she could edge along head-on. Just in the last couple of weeks, she has mastered her leg movement and is doing a lot of yoga now... downward facing dog and cat pose. Pretty soon, she is going to figure out the stepping motions for utility and the rug-burned calluses on her knees and elbows might reduce. But, it hardly matters. I clocked her crossing the room in 5 seconds yesterday.

She and Zola have figured out how to interact. They like to lay on the floor and climb on one another. Viola gets up on Zola's tummy (with a spotter) and they tickle each other. They play patty cake, hand each other toys, and sometimes Zola plays "mommy" and takes care of Viola... or lets mom &/or dad know if baby needs a diaper.

Zola's language skills are through the roof and everyday she surprises us with what she knows and can repeat. She can do three syllable words. Her favorite things are elephants, kisses, going to the gym childcare (she knows the building so we have to avoid that street when we aren't going there or she will cry), swinging, cooking (helping mom make dinner or pretending in her new play kitchen), books, and pushing carts/strollers. Her favorite foods are milk, cheese, eggs, and meat (deli slices, pepperoni, but not chunks of chicken or beef unless it is chopped up fine and has taco seasoning.) She loves chips with salsa and spicy food. She can drink from a glass, although she still wants her milk in a sippy cup when she is tired. And she can feed herself with a spoon and fork (but prefers to eat with her fingers for convenience.) She's not a messy eater and gets very upset when food gets on her. She doesn't like her stuff to be put away. She wants everything out at once. She loves her tutu and boots and wants to wear them every day. She still hasn't shown any interest in potty training, and we aren't going to push it.

For the holiday, I was off for a 4-day weekend. Mostly I cooked and baked and cleaned the kitchen.

For Christmas Eve, we had a Mexican food feast. Since you can't really find good mexican food here in Cleveland, I learned how to make tortillas and used a mock Filibertos rice and beans recipe to make everything from scratch. We also had queso, ground beef taco bar, and tacquitos (from a box.)

For Christmas morning, I prepared (in advance) homemade cinnamon rolls with lemon cream cheese frosting. (MMMMM!)

For the afternoon feast on Christmas Day, I prepared a half-ham in a peach and brown sugar glaze, a cheesy broccoli rice casserole (a family favorite from Aunt Viola), and homemade focaccia rolls. The rolls were a little hard, so I made a second batch of bread later in the day so that we could enjoy fluffy rolls. The second batch turned out perfect and I realized my mistake. Whenever you half a recipe, always re-write the amounts so you aren't just doing the math in your head. I always forget and use the full amount the recipe calls for with at least one dang item and spoil it.

On Monday, since I didn't have to work, we had a family day. We took the kids to the zoo, tried out another (sadly disappointing) mexican food restaurant, and then looked at houses. We only have a couple of restaurants left... and so far, there is only one type of south of the border food here. It's bland, not spicy at all, all the stuff on the plate is either runny or covered in a runny sauce and touching and the meat is always stewed and shredded. I miss the nuances of El Salvador, Cuba, and the baja coast of Mexico and their limes and grills, when chipotle was a spicy pepper in adobo sauce that could burn your eyeballs out, and the fresh corn and black bean goodness of Tex-Mex, and burritos that you put in your fist. You would think I could open a restaurant and make a killing, but the sad truth is that people here cannot palate the flavors. Things on the menu here that are marked "spicy" can compete with Taco Bell's mild sauce. Things are bland here for a reason.

I have tons and tons of video of the kids right now. But for some reason, we've been negligent about taking pictures. I need to beat myself up about that. What's a scrapbooker going to do? I'll post some visuals soon.

snow days

My toddler LOVES the white stuff.

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thanks.

We drove up to Baltimore and Washington D.C. for the holiday, saw Nick & Tanya, ate wonderful food, toured the city, and showed off our cuties. We really enjoyed the city and had a great time.

Since coming home, Zola has demonstrated her ability to recognize every single letter of the alphabet by sight in no particular order and Viola has taken her first tentative crawls like a non-soldier / non-amphibian person. She also figured out how to laugh hysterically out loud and return her big sister's hugs (can't explain the adorable.) I have a cold now and a work load that might eventually kill me. I am spoiled from the vaca.

hair fail

My hair is too long and it looks bleh.

Help me choose a hairstyle... leave a comment with what you think I should do. I'm going to go through pictures of myself through time to see if I like anything I've done before. Mark's thinking medium length, but I'm open to consider anything.

(Just want to avoid the middle-aged mom look.)

cute story

Zola thinks her name is "cute" or alternatively "you." Every once in a while, she will call herself Zoe or Zola. But most of the time she will argue indefinitely with you that her name is "Cute."

The other day, I caught her using something as a step stool to get the scissors off the kitchen table. The step-stool she was using? Her baby sister. She was standing with both feet, full weight, on Viola's tummy. Viola was just giggling like a complicit accomplice and was not harmed in any way during the telling of this story.

My hair is too long. Not only was I able to create a mural of Michael Jackson on the bathroom wall with the hair that falls out during a single shower but I'm now worse than living with a dog. My hair is everywhere in the house. We found one long hair hanging out of Viola's eye. It was wrapped around the back of her eyeball. (I was able to gently massage it out.)

I asked Zola if she needed a diaper. She bent over, touched the floor in what yoga calls the "Downward Dog" and subsequently farted on command - five times (while laughing her head off.) She makes more fart jokes than anyone in the house. Also, on a similar note, I mastered my chili recipe using dry beans and spices (not canned beans and packets) - very proud of myself.

I think Zola has upwards closer to 50o words now. And Viola is sitting up for nearly a half-minute by herself now. It is so hard to see them grow up so quickly and not be home with them more. I get the cranky, tired final moments in their day -- dad gets the happy, playful, joyful moments (but also the monotonous daily grind associated with meeting their basic needs hour after hour throughout the day.) Wish there was a way to spread out their care between us better.

happy halloween

Z's "first" halloween really exceeded my expectations. I knew that once the lights went on for her that strangers are just going to give you candy for no reason, it would be ON.

She smiled, shuffled along slowly, and said "hi" and "bye" and "thank you" to every house. (She even picked out which candy she wanted from a few. She had a hobo-style bag with an oversized hand at the receiving end that she carried perpetually at the ready, grasped firmly but carefully with both hands, especially as it got heavier. After each house, she would take a quick inventory of what she was given. We made it to about twice as many houses as I thought we would. There's plenty of booty for everyone.

Yesterday, we had a grill & chill in the park and then went home and made candied popcorn, which turned out great. Today, my work had a pot luck and I feasted on chili, which is so much more delicious when it's cold outside. I have a new appreciation and look forward to working on my own recipe this winter.

Unfortunately, we just got over being sick a few weeks ago and it looks like it's started it's way around again with me and Viola. I was lucky enough to get missed last time, so I could take care of everyone. But, this time, I feel like someone took a dump in my throat. Hopefully it will be a quick one.

I should imagine we'll see our first flurry of snow in the next couple of weeks. It was cold enough this evening for me to decide that the fleece I bought, thinking it would carry me to Christmas, is not warm enough already.

I love to bundle up. I like scarves and gloves and layers and hot chocolate and hot, spicy soups. So, I'm looking forward to the change of seasons.