The Zombie Song

My nephew Taylor posted this on facebook and I thought it was too good to keep to myself.

The only thing that is better is the video.

It's even better than candy!

I was out trick or treating with Lizzy when I saw a truck with flashing lights by a power line and (yes!) it looked like a street light was on on my street.

My power is back on! My power is back on!  

It is unfortunate that graphics and flashing words are beyond my ability to blog because that is what those two sentences need.

Electricity ... I've missed you!  Please never leave me again.  First you left me for a week for Irene and now because it snowed two days before Halloween?  Electricity, I think you're a little too high maintenance.

A Friday in October

I actually thought I was going to get home five minutes early from dropping Brianne off at school.  Which would have been fantastic but I was stuck behind a school bus that was stuck behind a garbage truck … and yes, I had to wait for both to stop.

After the kids left for school I took a nap.  Because I still have my cold probably because I don’t get enough sleep. 

Then I got a crown.  (For my mouth unfortunately!)

Then I picked up Bri to take her to the orthodontist and she came out with her braces still on.

Soon enough all my kids were home from school and I had to threaten them with dismemberment to get them to practice their piano, violin and flute.  Bri I threatened with non-attendance at a party.

I dropped Bri off for a party at an incredibly large and well decorated house.  I’m not sure how many times my house would fit inside of it but I’m going with easily four.  I actually thought the private driveway was a road.  (Hey it was dark. And the lady in my navigator said we had arrived.)

And I listened to a lot of Adele today.  I love Set fire to the Rain!

A couple of people wished me a happy 29th birthday except for one over achiever who chose 27th

But I’ve earned 41 years and I claim them all.  And since I have a 15 year-old I’d rather be significantly older than 29!

I got the loveliest birthday card from Elizabeth.  It said, “First of all don’t open this card.  Second of all you’re the best mom in the world.  Third of all you can open this card.”

I did … and homemade confetti hearts fell out.  And a clue to a scavenger hunt.

My kids think that scavenger hunts are THE. FUNNEST. THING. EVER.  So often I will see them figuring out clues and running around the house.  My scavenger hunt was about fourteen clues long.  And at the end was my gift.

In Elizabeth’s painted wooden treasure box was a paper heart with William’s name on it.  One with Brianne’s, dad’s, Jacob’s, Lizzy’s, a Lizzy heart balloon and a paper “I heart You.”  It also included three chocolates, a sucker, a Hersey’s Kiss, bottle caps (because I know you love them) and a dollar bill.

It is seriously the best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten.

And Brianne made me a cake.

I walked into the kitchen in the middle of it and was promptly sent out with protestations of ruining surprises and being a stinker and at least you don’t know what flavor it is.  When I smelled burning I opened the oven and saw that Bri had decided to bake me a heart birthday cake.  Adorable.  Unfortunately the heart pan is smaller than a 9x13 inch pan and she had poured all the cake batter into it.  Cake batter had overflowed and was burning on the bottom of the oven.  I put a pan under the cake and shut the oven.

My cake ended up being cake balls.

I stuck a candle in one of them, lit it and let William blow it out.  (Because it is a tradition in our family for William to help everyone blow out their birthday candles because it makes him so happy!)

Our church choir sang Happy Birthday to me.

And Marcy and Cheryl took me out for a birthday lunch.  Yummy!

I followed an unlovely man into a store today

I don’t know what noise caused me to turn my head to look at him.  Probably a noise I wasn’t expecting but instantly recognized as belonging to one of ours.  He and his father silently walked through the parking lot and then into Target.  He had a messy head of dark brown hair and he clutched a blue washcloth tightly in his hand.  He awkwardly lumbered into the store and headed directly to the DVDs.  His father headed in the opposite direction.  I was ridiculously proud of him for being independent.  I lost sight of him when I headed towards the card section where I spent an absurd amount of time trying to decide on a Bar Mitzvah card for my friend’s son.

I was wandering the toy section when I heard him laugh.  I looked up and spotted him in his bright yellow polo.  We passed each other.  I eagerly said, “hi.”

“Hi.”  He responded and I saw my son’s future.

The phrase "unlovely men" can be found here.

I decided I’m an honorary Jew

As least I was today because I bought two loaves of challah AND took it to a synagogue … see, honorary Jew.  Dave’s Bar Mitzvah is Saturday and I’m trying to help Marcy as much as possible.  Helping Marcy generally means driving around with her and shopping or quickly driving to Macy’s to give her my opinion on a dress.

I am awesome.  (And available to drive around quite frequently.)

Oooo, spooky!

My friend Alycia’s phone called me twice yesterday.  When I called her back Alycia said that the actual caller was her phone.  I replied that her phone probably just missed me.

Upon reflection … I decided her phone was haunted.

I decided never to get on her phone’s bad side.

Because I’m chicken, uh smart!

Columbus Day

To celebrate Columbus Day I took my kids to Six Flags because nothing says, “Woot, woot Columbus!” to me as much as going to an amusement park.  Yeah, we’re patriotic like that.

It went much better than last time … mostly because I let Will sit for multiple periods of time and bought him French fries when he asked.  We went on Bizzaro together.  I was surprised since the last time we went to Six Flags Will spent most of the day saying, “No purple roller coaster!” anytime I asked if he wanted to go on a ride.

Investment Advice from my Fourteen Year-Old

My husband mentioned that Ford stock was above what we’d paid for it.  “Did you tell me that we bought some?”  I asked.

“I don’t know.”  He replied.  “But I told Jake and he suggested we not buy it because he said that there were a lot of car companies who made better cars.”

I looked at my husband and made a thoughtful face.  “Right, he responded.  “I held off buying it for a couple of days because he made sense.”

Allowance

We decided to start giving Will allowance so he has his own money to buy every Dr. Seuss book possible on his iPad stuff.  Ideally he will learn the value of and usefulness of money and become more empowered.  I’ve thought about the best way to do this for a while.

A couple of weeks ago I took Will with me to the store and he wanted some books.  I told him “no” because he doesn’t always get something when he goes to the store.  Apparently I’ve bought him something the last several times or he really, really wanted those Dr. Seuss books because he was upset and it took a significant amount of my strength to get him away from the book aisle.

Naturally by the time we left the store I forgot about the books but William hadn’t.  He bolted back in.  When I stopped him and he realized that he wasn’t going to get the books he started crying and sat down in a mini (though loud) temper tantrum.

The experience in the store made me realize that 1.  Will is huge.  2.  He has no control over what he gets.  3.  If I say “yes” to often it becomes an expectation that every time he asks for something he gets it.

Admittedly, I’ve said “yes” to a lot of things lately because I’m so excited that he wants something.  He didn’t want anything for years so my inclination is to say, “Oh, you want a pony?  Sure, we’ll keep it in Bri’s room.”