Cranky Old Lady's Halloween Complaints

Handing out Candy and Drinking beer lead to a few Cranky old Lady complaints :)

One parent actually complained to my neighbor that he was not prepared enough for his kids! "Sir, you need to be more prepared. My kids were having a hard time waiting." You got to be kidding me!! When one of the first trick-o-treaters knocks on your door at 6pm, and you all set to go? Especially when you both work full time jobs and you are constantly trucking your teenage kids around? I think your kids can wait a minute while I am diggin' out the free candy to hand to them!!!

One parent was pulling her two kids (around age 3 and 5, I'd guess) in a wagon. OK, I live in a neighborhood with long driveways, and no sidewalks. I can see a wagon to help cart the kids. But, these kids NEVER got out of the wagon. She pulled them up to the steps, and made *me* come to them to give them candy. And then, I grabed two pieces from my bowl, one for him and one for her, and the boy tried to grab BOTH of them from my hand. When I said that the other one was for his sister, he got angry.

After the second beer was gone I waited for a lull in kids (not a hard thing, we had few kids this year compared to last year!) and then went inside to get my beer. Well, I set my bowl down on the porch (just not thinking, really) and came out to find one kid grabbing a whole huge handful. She put back some when I caught her, but protested that her friend took a handful too. And when I looked in the bowl, all the mini M&M's (for the little kids) were GONE. Greedy kid took them all. AND the parent with them apparently thought it was OK to do this!!

There were a few others, but by the fourth or fifth beer I did not care so much. And it was just fun to call my friends in CO or Livonia and harass them some more.

Kids these days, I'm telling you. And parents - they are worse!!!

Cranky Old Lady signing off.

Finding Ideas For My List

As of today I have a grand total of 64, scratch that, 65 things to do on my 101 items in 1001 days list. I am not great at math, but even *I* recognize that I am a tad short of the 101 things! I just cannot seem to find List-Worthy items for this.

I know some of you would have absolutely NO problem writing down 101 things to do. But I am not a list maker, so this is new territory for me. These are supposed to be "unordinary" things, or at least I am making that criteria. So I would not put my daily tasks, or errands etc. on this list. This list is for larger tasks and projects. And in truth, some of the items are long term projects, like me saving $20 a week from babysitting so I can go on the Wild Women Weekend, or having a monthly night out with just Bill. These things cannot be accomplished until the end of the 10001 days. Hmmm, slight flaw in my plan? Eh... I'll just have to count the things I am working on in the list too.

Hey - turns out I have quite a few things I am working on:

1. Decorate wood Doll house
2. Organize basement
3. Begin regular nature study each weekend
4. Save $20/week
5. Hand make one item for each family birthday
6. Organize laundry room
7. Deep clean one room a month
8. Have monthly night out with Bill

Still, I am a bit short on my list! Better keep thinking of those ideas.

Bill Bento

Apparently Bill has been the talk of lunch time in his office. He only has 30 mins for lunch, and because we are frugal as well, we pack his lunch almost every day. (Except for a long running Thai Thursday tradition he managed to start.) Since he has been working long before the girls started school, and thus I became turned on to Bento style lunches, I have recently made some changes in his lunch habits.

I have always cooked one extra portion of dinner and then packed it for his lunch. Just a simple way to save time, and provide him with something much better than frozen meals! Apparently not many people do this, and that alone was cause for some interest. But this summer I finally bought him a plate for his food to be heated up on in the microwave. (I hate reheating in plastic!) Apparently when you plop your food onto a plate the same food becomes more appealing and interesting to the onlookers!

Well, I also started packing more bento style lunches for him. I think that has thrown the crew into hyper drive! He comes home virtually every day and has some story to tell about how his co-workers are jealous and think we eat well. Maybe, but I think it is a combination of presentation and simple home cooked meals!

Lucky Bill!

(contents of Bill Bento: Pot roast (from a locally & humanely, albeit not organic, raised cow)with ketchup in one container, and horseradish in another. Butterfly shaped biscuits in a silicone cup - Bill, not me, made them with the girls! Other side is potatoes and carrots from our garden, a container of (homemade) strawberry jelly for the biscuits, and some leftover mini-M&Ms to help clean out last year's Halloween candy!)

Another 101 thing down!

So, I had the idea to create a fund for all Girl Scouts at the girls school. I proposed it loosely to the person in charge, and she "love love love love" s the idea! So, I officially wrote it out and sent it out to other people in charge in the hopes that this will get off the ground.

Another of my 101 things in 1001 days down!

Little Treasures

Last night Lauren found a book she made last year in school; she left it on the counter and mentioned something about me not reading it lately. Truth is, I forgot about it.

It was a hard-bound book that was made in class for a Mother's Day book. She drew and colored all the pages, and wrote the text. It is titled, "My Mother Is Special Because..." Inside is a list of all the everyday things I do for my beloved family on a daily basis ... I love her, I cook for her, I do laundry, I do dishes, I clean (that could be debated!) the house, I tuck her in at night, I give her kisses, I let Mulligan out, I play with her, & I am nice.

A whole 6 months has gone by since she made this for me, but it brings tears to my eyes more today than the day I first read it. Partly because it is SO very precious, but mainly because it shows that those mundane, trying, never ending, countless things I do for her are appreciated. (Either that or I am so uninspiring otherwise that she had nothing else to write!)

I hope I "inspire" her (and Annika) that there is great value in being an ordinary person living their life to the fullest. I'd rather be ordinary me sharing my everyday moments with those I love, than be someone living in the public eye unable to share a walk in the park with my kids. And I think my family likes it better that way too.

$100 Christmas

Last year I tried to talk Bill into doing a $100 Christmas, but he could not wrap his head around it. OK, so Christmas is in 2.5 months, I need to begin the leg work now.

With the state of the economy being so shakey, maybe this year will be the year he agrees to spending $100 for Christmas gifts!

Check one item off my 101 Things list

So, I have finished the Pioneer Outfit for Lauren's doll, Barbara. It is a mini version of the Halloween outfit I made for Lauren. Check off my first item from my list!

I also made a mini quilt for the Doll house, and plan on doing some more to decorate it for fall. The girls play with the furniture some, and with their Calico Critters or Littlest Pet Shop dolls often. Lauren and I started decorating the house a year ago, but we both lost interest. So I am hijacking the project and I have LOTS of Waldorf inspired, and just plain Kay inspired ideas to make it homey and inviting to play with.

So, I am on my way to fulfilling two more things on my list; decorate the doll house & make one handmade gift for each birthday. And yes, in this instance double dipping is allowed!

Pictures will follow, but probably not until after the birthday celebration.

Silly Me!

I figured out my problem to the entry a few days earlier ... I was in Html edit mode! sigh ....

Well, I never once claimed to be highly computer literate. Just enough to make it seem I know what is going on!

I'm Going (gulp)Public

So, I have been contemplating this thing I read about somewhere in the Blogosphere ... 101 things in 1001 days. The idea is you create a list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days. The list should be substantial, but not overwhelming. But the idea is you have approximately 2.5yrs to complete your list.

Interesting concept.

I'm not really a goal setter or list maker type person. So right away I kinda laughed at this idea. But then I kept running across people who had a list of 101 things on their blog, and I was forced to think about this concept more.

I do have a lot of things I'd like to accomplish. So at first I though, maybe I'll write down those things. Then I sat and thought a tad ... and wrote down some more things, things that would be nice to do in theory, but the reality is I'd probably never really do them. Then I wrote down some things I'd really like to do, but probably would never make the time or take the effort to do them. That was what made me say, HEY! Why not do those things? Why not make myself do some of them.

So, here goes. I am going public with my list. Because I know myself, and if I go public with it, I'm likely to accomplish many of these items. I'm a realist, and know that I may really want to do some of these things, or some of them sound cool in theory, but the reality is I probably will not follow through with all 101 items. Well, the list is only like 40 items anyway! But here it goes.

100 things to accomplish in 1001 days
October 12, 2008 – July 12, 2011
1001 Days - 143 Weeks - 32 Months - 2 ½ Years

Paint laundry room built-in
Go on romantic getaway w/just Bill
Travel to Laura Ingalls places
Buy only farm fresh, humane, eggs
Purchase a family friendly eco friendly car to replace Durango
Document Bill and my beginnings
Create a photo album of our family
Talk to Grandpa Kenny re his life
Document GK’s conversation
Organize basement
Create memory album of Nanna’s life
Create memory album of Poppa’s life
Create memory album of Grandma's life
Create memory album of Bill’s life
Create memory album of my life
Start a B-day journal for Lauren
Start a b-day journal for Annika
Begin regular nature study each weekend.
Remove wallpaper from main bath
Paint main bath
Remove wallpaper from ½ bath
Paint ½ bath
Remove wallpaper from master bath
Pant master bath
Incorporate weekly art/history study
Save $20/week
Have monthly night out with Bill
Read 16 books from my PBS/Amazon wish list
Re-landscape fencerow with native/noninvasive plants
Re-landscape basement area
Put up bat house
Have our beer tasting party
Create a Beer Bento
Make a pioneer dress for Barbara
Make dinner for Carrie one evening
Hand make one item for each family birthday
Put up bird bath
Put up thistle feeder
Re-cover living room valences
Re-paint kitchen
Take down kitchen border
Put new kitchen window coverings
Get new drapes for toy room
Get new dresser for our bedroom
Organize laundry room
Decorate wood Doll house
Re-paint Lauren’s Room
Re-finish Porch Bench
Re-finish Play structure
Touch-up paint moulding
Touch-up paint windows
Organize Master Closet
Clear out Kitchen cupbords
Organize Hall closet

Strange error below

So, I started this entry, but had to run and do laundry, play with a kid, change a diaper .... you know; mom things.

When I returned all the photos were uploaded, but, uhhh, all in code so that I cannot change the layout any or move things to make it look better. So sorry, but for now this is a weird entry that makes little sense visually. But enjoy it otherwise!

I love rainy fall days!

It was a misty, yet warm morning today. I love these kind of fall days! I just had to snap a few photos from my deck to document the beauty of all this change. This is one (of the many) thing I really missed when I lived in California. They do not have fall like Michigan does!

I actually took 64 photos this morning. I was that inspired by the beauty of it all.

I noticed that, while there is quite a bit of frost damage and leaves turning, there is also still some flowers around. In fact, some of my pansies from a few years ago have managed to survive and actually bloom this cool fall. Huh.

Well, enjoy some lovely snaps of my yard, the misty view over our subdivision, and the contrast between the end of summer and beginning of fall. Green and colorful, just the way I like it! For now. I will be just as excieted come the first snow, too!

It is a slow email day

I am in the mood to see how all my peeps are doing, but I have not had any email today. If you are out there, send me a line and let me know how your are doing!


BTW - I'm doing awesome this fine fall day. I am finishing Lauren's Halloween costume, and, if I may be so bold as to brag for a moment, it is turning out mighty fine! Pretty proud of myself; never thought I could sew so well ... and kinda fast too.

But, back to reality. ...and more sewing.

100 Items

I stumbled upon this concept today: Paring down your possessions to simply 100 items. What a wonderful way to unencumber yourself and free yourself from the confines of consumerism.

Intriguing idea. Let me begin my list ...

Computer
paper
pencil(s)
Panda - stuffed animal from childhood
camera
photo album(s)


wow - this would be QUITE a challenge. Can I make the girls take this?? : )

A New Blog

Yea, like what I really need is another blog! But, this one is more of a public one, and one dedicated to my "awakening of my consciousness and changing my American Consumerism Habits to a more sustainable and green life." I am working on Creating a Balance in my "Green" life.

There is not much on this blog yet - one post written a month ago. I intended on doing some stuff, but life got in the way. And honestly, as much as I wanted to push myself on some green issues, I am proud to say that I stayed true to my goal and remained my same ole self, but kept BALANCED in my life ... not overtaxing myself so I would slip further into the abyss of convenience.

So, go ahead and check out my virgin entry. And check back, things have settled here a bit (I hope!) and I may have a weekly or more often entry!

Where is All That Time I'm Supposed to Have??

With both girls in school full time, I am supposed to have a lot of free time on my hands; HAR! I am still waiting for it to show up!! Today I actually am free, but I am going to work on the girls' Halloween costumes and some Daisy stuff. (I am Annika's troop leader. ...for better or worse...)

So, if you've been wondering why it is October 2nd and it has been a whole month since last I wrote in here ... well it is not because I have nothing to say, rather it is because I have no time to formulate a coherent thought lately!!!