V for Victory

I have defeated the turkey.

But not without cost... I cut my finger.

Fortunately, the Sesame Street bandaid and neosporing are working their magic.

My house smelled like roast chicken all day Thursday. And also Friday.

Then, Saturday, I finally cooked the turkey. And my house smelled like turkey all day Saturday and Sunday.

Now my refrigerator smells like turkey.

Seriously? I am so sick of the smell of cooked bird. Blargh.

Oh, and in other news, the Child is a bit sick. He's just got a fever. So today we get to see how taking a sick child to work goes! Doesn't that sound like fun? AND, I had to cancel lunch with a friend. Pity party for Desiree.

Actually, I feel really bad for him. That must be no fun- to feel bad, but still have to go to work with mama.

Guess what is in my refridgerator, weighs 22 pounds and is still half way frozen?

That's right. A turkey.

For the record, RJ's work gave us the turkey, and we are very thankful. We're planning on freezing the meat one its cooked and eating turkey FOREVER.

So this morning, I got up at 6 to put the turkey in the oven. I get it out of its wrapper, turkey juice is everywhere, and surprise, surprise, its still mostly frozen. I can't even get in there to get all the nasty bits out. I put that thing in the fridge on monday to defrost. Silly me. I think it takes 5ish days to defrost.

So. I've got the turkey out, and I'm trying to decide what to do, when the Child comes wandering sleepily into the kitchen. "I wanna watch cartoons, Mama."

I take him back to bed, and tell him to snuggle with Daddy and I'll be right back, because I've got to put the turkey in the oven.

I go back to the kitchen, leaving my child sobbing and crying for "Mama!".

Ok. So the turkey is obviously out. All we've got in the freezer is one lone chicken breast. But, i remembered that buried in the bottom of the freezer is a whole chicken! So I dig it out and go looke on the internet at how long it'll take that thing to defrost and cook.

Woo-hoo! We won't have a vegetarian thanksgiving after all!

But wait, there's more.

I had to wrestle the half frozen turkey into submission. I wrapped it up in plastic wrap and put it back into the fridge. And there it sits. A frozen turkey mummy.

And the chicken is defrosting in the bathroom sink.

And we're watching The Parade. This is the first year that the Child has actually been interested in it and that's pretty fun.

So- happy Thanksgiving everyone! May your turkeys be unfrozen and your parade watching be satisfying.

Confession: When I take a bath, I poke my feet out of the water and think of Frieda Kahlo. 

RJ is at drill in Mesquite.

I took him up to Camp Robinson and dropped him off. I felt sick to my stomach.

Not once in two years has it ever been a good thing for me to be dropping him off with the Army. Ususally it ends in tears and me driving away, knowing that I won't be seeing my husband again in a long, long time.

And, most unfortunately, RJ's deployment has ruined me for weekends alone. Before, when RJ would have a 3 day, overnight drill, I would be thrilled at the time by myself. (well, with the Monkey, of course) And his 2 weeks? Fantastic! (well, the first week, anyways) My philosophy was that if he's gone for a little bit, I'll love him more when he's back.

But now? It totally feels like business as usual. Amy is going to come spend the night tomorrow- which I'm exited about!- but other than that... it's not quite as fun anymore.

OH- it's kind of like something you really like to eat. It's good in small doses every once in a while, and it's even good when you can eat it for a couple of days. But if you have to eat it for a whole stinkin' year, you never quite feel the same about that food again. ( When we were first married, I did that with this pasta dish I used to make- noodles, alfredo sauce, peas and sometimes chicken. It's really good, but I made it so often that now I can't bring myself to make it anymore. I don't think I've made it in at least two years- unless I made it to take to someone else.)

Hard Hat Area

Today is so beautiful that we have opened the backdoor to let some sunshine in.

And, as I am sitting beside this open backdoor, I am reminded that my backyard is not a safe place to be in the fall.

Every time the wind blows, acorns come shooting off of the trees to crack on the pavement. And every time I go out to sit on my patio, I cringe, just waiting for one of those things to smack me in the head. (it's only happened once)

great news! RJ has drill NEXT weekend!!

hahahahaha! This is awesome!

You Are Surrealism

Dreamy and idealistic, you've created a world that is all your own. It's very likely that you've either dabbled in drugs or are naturally trippy. You are always trying to push beyond the boundaries of your culture and society. You believe that art, love, and freedom can change the world.

What Art Movement Are You?

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Could I *be* more negative? Probably.

At least I'm not ranting about Thanksgiving... yet. :) Just wait, though, it'll be a doozy!

ok...

I am soooo not ready for the "holiday season".

And it sooooo does not help that there are Christmas decorations and whatnot everywhere already.

And, I am such a hypocrite, because I'm totally thinking of picking out our Christmas cards at Target today. We almost got some Edward Gorey Christmas cards at Barnes, but I decided I wanted some from Target. I just love the ones there. That is so sick, isn't it? Blast you, Target! For being so appealing!


OH. And also, RJ has to go to stinkin' drill this weekend. Thursday night thru Sunday. And Sunday is his birthday. I feel all yuck just knowing that we still have to deal with all the military crap. I get a stomach ache thinking about dealing with those people again, and my husband being gone (and on his BIRTHDAY!) because of the military.

Eat Your Oatmeal, Kids

The Monkey asked for oatmeal for breakfast this morning. (which I love- I can sneak all sorts of good things in there! I put in flaxseed and wheatgerm and he loves it)

So he was just playing with it, so I told him to eat it up because it would make him big and strong.

He ran over and said, with a worried expression, "I am big!"

I said, "Yes, you are, baby, but it will make you even bigger and stronger!"

After that, he'd run over after every bite saying, "I'm bigger!!"

It was pretty funny.

God vs. Spiderman

On the way home, I was asking the Monkey what he did in nursery school that morning. He said that they had a story about "God and Spiderman." Interesting, no?


Also, my computer screen is all smeary because I let the Monkey watch a movie on it yesterday. He's got a cup with a straw that sort of spits when it's opened. At least he tried to clean it up, right?

Oh- and one more thing... The Monkey said "yes, m'am" to me yesterday without prompting. That was pretty cool- I was proud of him. Actually, it sounds more like "m'am, m'am".

My little Lion on his first time to trick-or-treat.  

The fruits of his labor. 

tricken!

Our Halloween was great!

In the morning, My mom picked the Child and me up, and we went down to the Rivermarket for coffee. It was a lot of fun- my mom and I haven't done that in a while.

The Child refused to wear his lion costume all day untill we went to Kroger to get something for supper. Then he wore it the whole time we were in the store. He was pretty cute!

On the way home from the store, we were talking about what we were going to do when Daddy got home, and the Child informed me that he was not going to eat stew with us, he was going to eat his candy from trick-or-treating instead.

RJ took him out trick-or-treating. They just went to the houses on our street. Not only did the Lion ring the doorbells that he could reach, he hollered, "Tricken!" when the door was answered.
He was so excited about the kids that came to our house, too. Every time the doorbell rang, he would scamper to answer the door, and he talked about everybody comming to his house and called them all his friends.

He was pretty dissapointed when we ran out of candy and had to bring in our pumpkins and turn out the lights. He asked, "Make more candy? Go to the store?"

So it was a fun night. The Child had a lot of fun, and the trick-or-treaters were so cute! All that was missing were Ms. Wanda's popcorn balls!

Trogdor and VW? 

that's the "itsy bitsy spider" on the side. That's what X desperately wanted on his pumpkin. 

I just looked out my window (My laptop is on the built-in desk by the sliding glass doors to the backyard. I love it!) and there is an army of birds feasting in the backyard.

Only they're really tiny and they blend in with the grass, so it just looks like the lawn is twitching.

Tonight we're butchering our pumpkins in preperation for Halloween tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about carving them. RJ's pretty excited about pumpkin seeds.

Did I tell about getting pumpkins? I took the Child to the Farmer's market, and we picked out two pumpkins. The Child says, " A Baby pumnin and a Daddy pumnin."

I'll post pics of the "Linon" and the "pumnins" on Wednesday after we've eaten ourselves into a sugar coma.

Superhero in action. He's running so that the cape will flutter. 

Cutest little superhero ever. p.s.- this is not a new halloween cosutme, they are pj's. But he did wear his "linon" costume to play outside today. 

Like Father Like Monkey

Yesterday morning, when we were all still in bed, I jinxed RJ.

He whispered to the child, "Say 'daddy' three times."

The Child whispered back, "Daddy three times!"