A bone to pick at the Love Feast

Okay, so Obama will be our next president. Unlike many of you, that doesn't fill me with pessimism or optimism. I am neither sure that he will ruin the country nor that he will save it.
And I thought he gave a very nice acceptance speech. There were just a couple of things he said that made me go "huh?"
The one I will mention is this: He said we were facing the worst financial crisis of the century. Now, either he means this century, as in the year 2000 onward, or he is saying we are worse off now than we were in the Great Depression. Um, maybe I am completely oblivious here, but I don't think so.
Are all of you out there really suffering that badly? If you are than I can understand why his platform of change is so very attractive. But really, this seems more like panic-mongering to me than fact.
I do believe that Mr. Obama has the best motives and that he really feels he will be helping us all by instituting whatever changes he can. But it all puts me in mind of the story "The Giving Tree."
--Yes, my child, you got yourself in a terrible fix with your greedy speculation and your desire to have it all. So now take my branches. Take my apples. Take everything I have to give you. That's what I'm here for. And don't worry about personal responsibility. There are no consequences because I love you. I will bail you out. I may be left a limbless stump in the end, but I will still give everything I have until there is nothing left and we are both old and fruitless.--

Oops, that sounds a lot like pessimism.

In fairness to Mr. Obama, I don't think this is his intention at all. But I think a lot of people in this country are expecting it to be.

Halloween Costumes

Anika has been most anxious for me to post about our Halloween costumes. Probably because she looked so gorgeous in hers. Here is Ani as a Rani (queen of India.)
Lissa went as a Vampire. And I was supposed to do some makeup--pale face, trickle of blood--but I never did. Oh, well.Anderson is a bat. You'd think we were trying to get rid of him by dressing him in all black to go trick-or-treating on Halloween night. But this was his costume of choice and he wore it for three days straight. Plus he had a hat with ears.

Meredith insisted on being this pink cat that is a size too small for her. But hey, she was happy, and I didn't have to do a thing except snap her up.
I made the first part of Rosalie's spider costume for Meredith to be a witch in three years ago. This time I added the extra legs and made a little hat with six googly eyes on it. She wore the hat for about 20 seconds and refused to put it on ever again.
I wore one yard of tulle draped around my shoulders and said I was a cobweb. Rosalie was my prop.

Autumn Wind

Lissa wrote this song called Autumn Wind for the Reflections competition for her school. She is very gifted at making up songs. Now if we could only get her spend as much time practicing her recital pieces as she does making stuff up :)

Goblinitis and other symptoms of Halloween

We have a goblin infestation.

They're everywhere.

Watching us. Lurking. Leering.

Smirking. Sneering.


Or being endearing. (This one looks like Gonzo.)That's what my kids did after school today.

And my own crafty self did these little shirts for the little girls a few days ago. Orange dye covers the brown stains that we always (always) get on our white shirts. I didn't invent this craft, or the goblins either. I got the ideas from One Pretty Thing.


Meredith painted the face at the bottom all by herself.

Not my costume this year

So a few years back there was that big thing with the Lord of the Rings movies. Remember? And I never would have done this under my own motivation, but my friend Star got a bunch of us excited to go to the premier of the final installment in costume. I worked hard to come up with costumes for myself and my husband. Star came up with costumes for her entire extended family, as you will see if you follow her link.
And Halloween has reminded me, once again, that I have never worn my costume again, not even for Halloween. Why? Why, when I put so much effort, time, sweat, and money into it have I never worn it again? Here is the reason--babies.
Babies don't care if you are wearing silk and other materials that are not even hand-washable. They don't get it if you ask them to please not hug you or wipe their spaghetti smeared faces on you. In fact, they think that is what you are for. Or at least, that is what I am for to my babies.
So here are pictures of my "not for Halloween yet" costume. In a few years maybe it will get out of the closet more than virtually.

Funny Face Family

While we were waiting for everyone to assemble for Family Night, we got a little silly.








Anderson's is an alien, of course. Somehow, it just doesn't have the same effect.

Fire House Tour

Ever heard of E.D.I.T.H.? That's "Exit Drills In The Home" for those of you who have forgotten your elementary school days. I remember resenting them for taking my name and making it even nerdier than I already was. But I'm so over that now, right?

This week was Fire Prevention Week! In honor of said week we took a tour through our new fire station with Star's husband Lee, the Fireman. Or, anti-fireman, really. ( By that I mean he is anti-fire.) The kids loved his laid back attitude towards all the cool stuff--"You want to climb all over the ambulance? Go for it! Climb the firetruck, too! Want to spray the hose? Want to hold the "jaws of life"? Just kidding, it weighs more than you do. So does my fire gear but put it on anyway!" You can imagine the kids had a good time.


And here I am asking what they would do if my house were on fire: "How would you get water? There are no hydrants out where we live. Could you siphon water from the ditch? But they turned that off today. So, could you knock the cap off our well and pump water out of that? Huh? Couldja? How are you going to save my house!?!"

Yeah, I'm about as much fun as an exit drill in the home.

What with a dozen kids and all that equipment, an accident was inevitable. You can see that Anderson is disfigured for life. Just kidding! The only scars are emotional.

Oh! We got a new camera! Hooray! Now we are waiting for a new memory card to come in the mail because the one that came with the camera holds about ten pictures. Sheesh.