Ladies, I have been busy reading lots and lots of blogs. I absolutely LOVE all the new sites and blogs for moms and money saving ideas and making our houses into homes. I have gotten so many great ideas in the last couple of weeks that I can't wait. We've had a few small projects going on, but this week I'll be concentrating on trying to do one thing each day for Halloween or fall related with the boys. Liam could really care less but usually once we start he'll join in because he cannot stand being the only one not doing something. Tonight we are making caramel apples so I'll try to remember to take pics and post them tomorrow. Ian is excited because although we have made them before, usually he just eats them after I'm done. This year I told him we'll put the caramel stuff in the crock pot and after supper we'll dip and decorate the apples. I'm also attempting my own pumpkin puree with the six small pumpkins I bought but since I have never done anything like that before my expectations are quite low as to what it will taste like. I'll let you know either way!~M
I finally decided yesterday that I would keep up with my posts and even if they aren't the best posts in the world, it would be something just to chronicle the day's events and rag on people that piss me off. I have been really busy lately. We've cleaned up from the hurricane but wrangling with insurance companies and things of that sort is just so frustrating. We had a great weekend and it was over sooo fast. We went to the Homecoming Parade for the high school football team on Friday afternoon and then tried to entertain Liam and his friends. Keeping Ian out of their way is our biggest challenge so we decided to lit the fire pit and drank wine on the front porch. Brent and I stayed out there forever. It actually felt like fall and had a little nip in the air. We talked for about three hours (which isn't hard for us to do) and came up with the answers to some questions we had been pondering for some time. I felt better after our talk and it's always great having someone to listen to you, I mean really listen, and then coming up with an answer and sticking to it. You know those life-altering decisions I have to make like "What should we let the boys dress like for Halloween? Scary? Original?" and "What did y'all do for Halloween when you were little" and "You're voting for WHO?" That was my biggest question. Maybe after a little lovin' and some sweet talkin' I can persuade him to RETHINK that vote if he plans on doin' any of that again!!!! Just kidding, but I would resort to that if I had to. Last weekend we painted our pumpkins instead of carving them and I didn't really know this at the time, but acrylic paints looks great on pumpkins but from what Liam told me the acid eats away at the pumpkin and now all the pumpkins we painted are distorted and deformed! I bought some more but they will stay in their original presentation and be boring and healthy. The other ones have not fallen apart yet but at any second the back on the biggest one will probably fall off -- it is disgusting. We took Ian to two church fall carnivals and he had fun. The first place Brent took him to was his preschool for Mother's Day Out that he attended for five years. I sooo miss that little school. I loved it and it was so simple - no homework and he looked forward to going every day. I didn't go with them because Brent waited too long to wake me up and so I got dressed while they were gone to the trunk-or-treat there then they ran back and picked me up and we headed over to St. Charles for our Halloween Carnival. Brent and Ian won Most Original with Ian's costume because he was a "mini-me Brent." They dressed alike in camo shirts, hats, jeans and shoes. Then we used mascara to make the goatee on Ian and they look remarkably alike! Everyone just died laughing and were standing there pointing and taking pictures. One girl from our soccer team said she knew they always looked alike, but that Ian was a clone of Brent. I thought it was pretty funny. Until they stood up on the stage and looked out, I don't think I ever realized exactly how much they look alike. Ian was so proud of himself for placing in the contest. Of course, if Brent's not around he just looks cute but when they're walking together people turn and do a double-take. It was hilarious watching their reactions. I'll try and upload a pic from my cell phone. My camera battery was dead so I used the cell phone now I have to figure out how to get it off the media card on the phone. I love the gadgets but sometimes they don't love me!
Reports cards and conferences were this past week and both the boys did really well. Liam made all A's with an overall average of 97 which is really great and he's been working hard to keep his grades up because he loves his long hair. We are so totally proud of him and give him great kudos for such a good job. Ian had really high grades this six weeks which really surprised us because he had such a hard time wanting to go to school, getting him to go to school and to stay there. With the two hurricanes, evacuations and time off of school, he has really stepped up and pulled his weight. I told him that second grade is a hard adjustment for a lot of kids and that what he's feeling is totally normal, only that some kids hide it better than others. And I told him that if he ever feels sad or lonely then when he goes to the nurse to take his tummy medicine (TUMS for kids) to ask the nurse to call me and I can talk to him for a minute. He said he'd like that if he feels that bad but that right now his days are busy at school and he has not gone to the nurse for his Tums in two weeks. Whew! I know it takes 21 days to form a habit, but geez, this is the first time since school started that they have gone for 21 days in a row. His teacher was really generous with her comments and said he is smart and competitive. She knows him well. Liam on the other hand doesn't have a competitive bone in his body. He loves winning in soccer but on a personal level he just does the best he can and doesn't feel he HAS to be the first or be the best. I wonder if it's that "second child syndrome?"
On Wednesdays I help my friend at her jewelry shop and so for the past two Wednesdays I have really enjoyed it. I am not actually getting paid for it, but I'm ordering stuff to put in there to sell and coming up with ideas and bouncing them off of her. She's so much fun to do this with and hopefully the holidays will keep it busy. I found some beautiful crosses that I am going to try and sell in the store and am researching the need for Bento boxes in our area. I talked to a bunch of friends in my neighborhood and at school and we seem to have run out of ideas for lunches. They get so boring and I hate doing that to the boys. However, my kids really don't like buying their lunches and I make them buy it at least once or twice a week so I can get a break and try and find something interesting to pack for them. The bento boxes are so versatile and so I'm going to bounce those around and use them on the boys for awhile and decide if I'm going to try and get them in the shop. Went and scouted out other boutiques/shops in our area and got some great ideas. I love, love, love the vintage wallpaper and initial necklaces. However the place in our area that has them also has them priced pretty high. The ones I looked at were like $18 for two pendants and the chain. The one I priced was $79 and that was only one pendant. I don't know the difference in the quality but the overall effect is the same. Cute and charming.
Halloween plans are trunk-or-treating at several area church functions again and another carnival on Wednesday evening. Liam has CCD but he said that it was OK and we could just bring Ian. I guess he's growing out of the kiddo stuff. I bought this adorable headband to wear that has a giant black and purple spider on it with leopard print so I bought some leopard print yellowbox flip-flops to match for our trick-or-treating night out. However, with my luck, it will probably be chilly or rainy and I won't be able to wear any of the cute stuff. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
OK, so I've tried out a lot of new recipes in the last several weeks. In all of our married years I have never made or attempted sloppy joes. However, my child came home from school the other day asking what a sloppy joe was and could I make him one. So Saturday afternoon after soccer and before our trunk-or-treating, I made my first sloppy joe. I researched about seven different recipes online and then just incorporated all of them and they loved them. Liam & Ian each had two and Brent ate three. I ate one, it was OK, just not my cup of tea. But they loved them and it was super easy. Meat, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, mustard, Lea&Perrins Worcestershire sauce, a little brown sugar, onion, garlic and basically that was it. I added a little water then let it simmer until it was pretty thick. They were famished and ate almost the whole pot. Even Ivy had a little sloppy joe. I think what sparked it is the lunch lady song by Adam Sandler where he sings about the lunch lady and sloppy joe getting married. Ian sings it all the time and I think they had sloppy joes at school or someone brought one from home and he didn't know what they were. So, it was a success and I'll probably be making it more often this winter. Super fast, cheap and easy. I have two new recipes in line this week so I'll review those later in the week as I make them. Tonight we're having chili. Have not made chili yet this fall season and it's about that time. Brent made jalapeno wraps and grill pork tenderloin last night and there was a lot left over but I feel like it is a chili kind of day so tomorrow night we have CCD for Ian and we can have a smorgasbord of different flavors. I found a recipe that looks great on Diary of a SAHM of a Mexican Potato Casserole. Looks easy and like something I could get the boys to eat and maybe even like.
