Freakishly Fatiguing Festival

Do you like my goulish witch shoes and Beetlejuice stockings?

I'm playing a witch for Halloween this year.....
....and I'm also the activities' committee for our church.

Yes, that's right....
I am not ON the committee....I AM the committee.

I felt quite a responsiblity in this position. With the majority of the congregation being retired, this particular chapel (in this particular farming town) hasn't had a Halloween activity for the kids in a number of YEARS.

Being the festive diva that I am, I decided to take the ball and run with it.

"Showtime" (Beetlejuice reference) was last night....and I ALMOST didn't make it out of bed this morning for church.

Despite my adoration for the fall holidays, this week has left me feeling about Halloween, what I feel like the day after Christmas. I am SO exhausted after this Fall Festival, that I am ready to throw away the candy, pack up the decorations, and take a big nap!

We had a lot of fun, though. These were some of our carnival activities:

*Face Painting

*Bobbing for Apples

* Cake Walk

*Bean Bag Toss

*"Fishing for Treats" Fish Pond.

*Festive Fall Photos

...and More!



I'm pretty positive everyone had a blast...and if they DIDN'T, it was their own fault.
(I've never painted so many Jack-o-lanterns and ghosts on cheeks before in my life!)

"This was a great activity," one said. "Let's do this same thing again next year, except next time let's add a haunted house in the cave-like basement of the church."

Thinking of repeating this week and adding more activities makes me tired.

"I'm ready for my nap now."

Happy Halloween!

"Frankie" Loves You!

And I love this "wicked" hat I bought off of eBay!

"And The 'Husband Of The Year' Award Goes To...."

We have a memory foam mattress.
Translation: there are NO springs. Therefore, when you jump on it, fall on it, or throw you wife on it, it does NOT bounce!

I believe I have FINALLY gotten this point across to my hubby.

Last weekend, we were planning on going to a friend's house for an evening of game-playing and socializing. At 5pm we were still lounging lazily on our lovely couch. Ben jumped up after noticing the time. "We have to get going," he announced in a motivated tone.

Playfully I threw myself across the cushions and said, "I'm tired, carry me!"

My husband used to be a firefighter. It makes him feel good to throw me over his shoulder and run down the hall. I guess it's one of those things that makes him feel manly and strong. Being the supportive, thoughtful wife I try to be, I will willingly pretend to be lazy so that he can indulge his caveman insticts. (Isn't that nice of me?)

And so he did, what he does everytime, he hoisted me over his shoulder and headed across the house. I played along, laughing, and watching the world pass by upside-down. Entering the bedroom (don't worry, this is G-rated), he lifted me into the air, and threw me across the bed.

Triumphant, he turned to walk out of the room while I laid there, unable to take a deep breath or lift my head.

My husband, while showing his caveman-like strength and abilities, had managed to throw me down so hard (and at just the right angle) on our unforgiving bed that one of my ribs was tweaked a bit out of place, causing all the muscles between my shoulder blades (and up my neck) to seize.

We didn't know it was a rib at the time.

The next couple of days were extremely painful, but my husband was even more tender than he is already. After drawing baths, getting me food, and rubbing my shoulders he sat on the couch with me as I watched my shows of preference. At one point, after wiggling nervously next to me, he leaned over and whispered in my ear,

"I'm sorry I broke you."

Soon he had an idea: "Could it be a mis-placed rib?"

Standing me up, crossing my arms in front of my chest, he re-aligned my back. We heard two "pops" in between my shoulders, and I started noticing relief within hours. It's been a couple more days and although I still have a tender spot, I'm noticing quite an improvement (besides the fact I can take deep breaths now, too). It's always a bonus to be able to breathe.

Maybe he DID "break" me, but he has been trying really hard to make me feel a lot better.

Video Killed The Radio Star

I served a mission for my church from 1998 to 2000, (which is why and how I speak French) and for almost 18 months I didn't watch television.

It produced an interesting perspective: suddenly, for the first time in my life, commercials seemed ridiculous. When I came back home, it took me more than a week to finally feel interested in trying to watch TV. I sat on my couch, pondering the "TV fast" I was about to break, while holding the plastic remote in my hand. I turned on the "boob tube" and within one hour turned it off again, out of irritation. I couldn't stand it anymore. I noticed three things:

1. Commercials seemed more loud and obnoxious than ever

2. Pharmaceutical companies had started advertising prescription drugs (hearing, "ask your doctor if Lipitor is right for you" was something I had never heard before). Now, considering my mom had passed away the week before because of complications from a prescription diet pill she got after "asking her doctor", you can understand why my blood started boiling when I heard the voice on the commercial rattling off the usual list of "possible side effects"!

3. The background music of all these shows was really loud. While watching the new game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" I found myself feeling short of breath because the beating heart sound playing in the background was stressing me out. (By the way, If you want to play online....click HERE.)

Oh, one more thing.....
I found myself thinking, "what's a reality show?"

Can you imagine?

So anyway, I eventually got over that "TV aversion" and, sadly, became familiar with the "Seasonal Line-Up" once again. Years later, while living in the Mesa area, we bought a 54-inch plasma and subscribed to over a thousand channels. "What have we become," I thought to myself, ever so briefly, before clicking through the channels and memorizing my favorites.

In March, we disconnected the flat screen (for the move to the farm) and didn't watch TV again.....

Until a month ago

When we were introduced to DirecTV.
(uh, oh)

I have to say that I had become (seemingly) dependant on TV again as a stay-at-home mom. It was a way to be connected, to have "company" during the day as I went about my things to do. After moving to the farm, isolation was the hardest thing to deal with: no TV, no visible neighbors, no LIGHTS...it was lonely when Ben was working late. The radio was on a LOT and my i-pod was working over-time.

So, when we were scheduled for our "hook-up", after six months of silence, you can understand why I was counting down the hours.

He finally came, and while he was working, I found myself flittering anxiously around the house, and pacing like a hyper chiauaua. To calm myself, I sat at the computer. While checking my email, it began. I heard it. A commercial broke the silence. After ten minutes I found myself in the same position I was in after my mission.

"That is SO annoying," I thought to myself. "Why did we hook this up?"

As soon as he walked out the door, I grabbed the remote and turned the noise down.....WAAAAAY down. I tried for a week, but nothing sparked my interest. Once again, people seemed phony, reality shows seemed fake, commercials were loud, AND women appeared to be wearing even less clothing.

Has "simplifying" curbed my television addiction once again?

Has the absence of television led me to expand myself; to have the time to teach my 4-year-old to read, to learn how to make pies, grow herbs, and sew quilts....to do things for my family? (hmmmm.)

Well, at least we have the NFL Superfan package.

...okay....and HGTV!

Fall Break

I've been a little ABSENT lately, and have taken a break from the blog community.
During my time away I HAVE, in fact, kept myself very busy.

Over the past 10 days, I have:

* Organized the closets

* Sorted over 600 pictures (from my birth through adulthood) for scrapbooking and family archiving

* Spent a LOT of money on eBay

* Become the new reigning TETRIS champion of our household (two times)

* Sewn the tops to TWO twin-sized patchwork quilts

* Applied for Passports for our family

* Made three full-length kitchen aprons

* Learned how to make apple pie....from SCRATCH!

* Bought a Sony Handycam Camcorder--NOT from eBay

* Planned a Halloween/Fall Festival for our church

* BAKED two apple pies....from scratch (just for practice)

* Reviewed a bizillion house floorplans

*Lost 5 pounds without even trying (YeeHaw!)

It's been a good week, don't you think?

MOUNTAIN LION UPDATE

Do you remember about a month ago, when I posted the blog about the Mountain Lion?

For a reminder, check it out here.

Well...
There's more to the story....

Last week, a friend of ours (after hearing us tell the story the day before) came up to us at the Homecoming Football game.

"Guess what I saw on the road just after sunrise this morning?"

(She told me to guess, so that's what I did:)

"A helamonster... A tortoise... A snake.... An illegal hitch-hiker..."

I started throwing guesses in her direction. She just shook her head and got a big grin on her face.

"TWO baby mountain lion cubs waddling across the street and moving like a couple of baby bears. They were crossing the highway into the farm....into your field to the north. They can't be more than a few weeks old. They were so cute!"

CUTE!
I'm sure they were to her, but I was less enthusiastic. I could feel the "Oh, GREAT!" look wash across my face.

Those little cubs are going to grow and now we can say that we have THREE (living in the corn field) on the farm, at least! The corn harvest is going to start soon. THEN where are they going to go?

I HOPE they go toward the Chiricahua Mountains that are just east of the farm....isn't that where they're SUPPOSED to be anyway?