Trying To Be Super Mom

I made Halloween cookies for The Boy's school. I was just going to whip them up quick and then get on with the rest of my day. You see, since I'm a mom now, I pride myself on always having the ingredients on hand to make cookies at the drop of a hat. You just never know when a cookie emergency might arise. Well, seems I didn't have cream cheese for these fancy things. And then I didn't have Cream of Tartar (what is that, tartar sauce?) for the icing. So I was off to the grocery store. I also picked up black food coloring, but didn't find orange. Nor did I find black or orange sugar. What? Its Halloween! Stock up people!

Now its noon, and I fully read the recipe. I see that the dough needs to sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours before using. Fine. Then I make the icing and color one batch orange and one batch black. The orange is a pale, "sunset" color. Not the dark pumpkin color I wanted. Fine. And the black is to be mixed into chocolate frosting, not the beautiful white royal icing I made. So I ended up with dark grey. Fine.

Now its 4:30. I finally got the cookies baked (some darker than others,) and decorated (some better than others), and then proceeded to smear the decorations while packing them in the box. The point is, long story longer, it took ALL DAY and they still didn't turn out at perfectly as I wanted. The good new is, I made them for kids ranging in age of 3 months - 3 1/2 years. They're just going to shove them in their mouth, not care that some are burned, that the black cat's eyes have run together, and that I smeared the windows on the haunted house.

NLJ

Learning a New Sport

I just learned that in hockey, when there's an injured player, they don't tell you the exact injury. They only say whether or not its an upper body injury or a lower body injury. I thought that was interesting and I thought you might like to know. Or not.

NLJ

Just When You Think You Have Them Figured Out

The weirdest thing happened yesterday. I let The Boy forgo nap time because he's kind of nasty when its nap time these days, and I figure if he's sitting quietly, watching a movie, at least he's resting. Then I noticed some of the other kids in the neighborhood were outside playing, and I thought it would be fun for him. So, they played for over and hour before everybody went inside. When we came in the house, I asked Henry if he wanted to have quiet time on the sofa, and he said he wanted his own bed. "Can I have my own bed? Pleeeeease?" Um, OK. So I took him upstairs and asked him if he wanted to nap in his own bed, and he said yes. And then he did, and then all was right with the world.

NLJ

Can YOU Help ME?

Advice please! I've been trying to step my wardrobe up a bit, just a bit. I'm trying to find casual clothes that aren't too casual, yet aren't too "worky" because I don't like work clothes anymore. Anyway, during the summer I was able to get away with a navy pair and white pair of Keds, along with a few sandals here and there. So now its getting to be winter and I want some new shoes...bad. I thought I'd head on over to the shoe store but I realized I haven't a clue what I want or even what all you fashionistas are wearing these days. Can you help me with a few ideas? Somethings that are cute with jeans, and not too high in the heal. I've decided to forgo the heals anymore. The old dogs just can't handle much anymore. Thank you in advance.

NLJ

Rooster Tail

I've never noticed it before, in all my 36 years, but I have a major, weird, and newly obnoxious cowlick on the back of my head. I got my hair cut two weeks ago, and I was telling my stylist how I would like her to cut my hair to give me a bit more body at the crown. It always goes flat right there, and I figured it had something to do with the 600 lbs of hair I have. But she informed me I have an "oddly" low cowlick on the back of my head. Apparently from what she told me, (BTW - thanks for something else to be self conscious about) most people's "swirl" is at the crown, and mine is on the back of my head. But, she said, she could make short layers so there would be a bit more body back there and not suck to my head. So now, like never before, my hair sticks up like a goofy, seven years old boy's hair right when he wakes up and goes to school without showering and his backpack is half hanging off with his shoes untied.

NLJ

Busy Busy Busy

I have been slow with work the last few days, no biggie. I've been cleaning the house, running errands I've been putting off, cooking, and dealing with this cold. So of course today when I need to go shopping, do laundry, take care of The Boy, and pack for our trip this weekend...all of my crazy designers have checked in and need something. So today has turned into the mad dash day. When it rains it pours. Feast or famine. All of it.

NLJ

Hock A Loogie

How does a person go to bed at 1o o'clock at night, feeling just fine, and perfectly healthy. Then midnight rolls around and she's awoken with a sore throat, headache, and chest filled with MUCUS?! I can believe how fast it can move in. So today doing a steady dose of Musinex, a.k.a. Miracle Drug.

NLJ

Puts Hair On Your Chest

Yesterday was the first day I wore socks since April. Not gym socks, but dressy socks. Well, they're not dressy, they're just black. I guess they're not even really black because they're faded, but WHATEVER. It always feels weird on my feet to wear socks and jeans after so long. The Husband put jeans on for the first time this weekend and he couldn't stop talking about how crazy and comfy it was. Personally I like to wear shorts as long into the season as I can. Especially on crispy, cool fall days. It gets my blood pumpin' and makes me feel ALIVE!

NLJ

Completely Delusional

There is nothing cuter than the little 5 year old boy who lives next door when he's running to the bus stop in the mornings. This morning he's running down the street with his stocking hat on, coat unzipped and half off flopping all over. He runs for a bit, then get distracted by the man hole, oh, what is that a leaf? A leaf! Amazing! I look over at his house and his back pack is still sitting in his driveway. I have a minor panic attack that he's forgetting it, but here comes his big brother. He picked it up to help the little guy out. It just warms my heart, but at the same time I'm so thankful The Boy will never grow up to be that big and leave me. Whew!

NLJ

Don't Judge Me

I just got done watching a movie with The Boy. It was called Racing Stripes. It was one of those movies with real animals but they all talked. Even a couple of flies talked. The voices were pretty respectable including Dustin Hoffman as the pony, Whoopie as the goat, and Jeff Foxworthy as the rooster. Pretty typical horse racing movie...zebra wants to be a race horse...everyone doubts him....he works hard....he wins the "big race" and gets the little philly. Then the strangest thing happened. The 36 year old in the room is bawling.

NLJ

True Art

I would probably be fired from my former job if they ever heard me say this: I am OK with the fact that the centerpiece on my coffee table is The Boy's firetruck. Its true. That's just where I am right now. I was cleaning the house the other day, and picking up the majority of toys and books and trying to organize everything to make it look somewhat like adults live here too. I got to the table and there's the firetruck. Its always on the table because he likes to kneel up to it and put his hand in it to pretend to drive it, and he talks to himself about what he's doing, and its so flippin' cute you just wanna eat him. So yeah, maybe its not some great object de arte, but it makes me smile whenever I see it.

NLJ

There's Always Next Year

I'm a little depressed. I say "little" only because last night I was really depressed. I feel the same way every year when baseball is over. Maybe a little more this year because we were SO close to going to the post season, and missed it by one run. The season goes on for 162 games, and for us this year it was 163. But then it ends. It just stops, and its over, and it feels so abrupt. Its strange. I keep trying to remember how I dealt with it last year, or the year before that. Life goes on, the sun comes up, the economy slides, and we all look forward to February when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

NLJ