Where Did October Go?

My goodness how time gets away from me. I seem to remember a few days ago it was the first of October and the weather was just starting to cool off. Now it is the day before Halloween. I was considering participating in the NaBloPoMo but now I honestly don't think I could do it. I'm just working too much. I don't even think I have the time to do up a bunch of posts and then post them each day. So good luck to all of the participants and have fun.

After I decided to not participate I saw this entry on Tangerine Zest. Great minds think alike, Ha!

I went on a field trip today with my daughter to Lyon Family Farms in Taft, Tn. This was a very well organized trip. We went on a hayride where the children picked their on pumpkins from the patch. We played in a corn maze, giant inflatible slide, and corn bin. The kids petted and fed all sorts of animals. We listened to they story of how the pumpkins grow and had a sing a long. We had a picnic lunch outside. Luckily, it warmed up enough to enjoy the day. The kids had a onderful time!

My mother sent this picture of me I wanted to share with you because it reminds me so much of Gina's picture on her blog.

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween. Unfortunately, I have to work late and will miss out on the annual tradition of dressing up and begging door-to-door for candy. If our camera was not on the fritz I would perhaps get pictures but now I will only get stories. I'll be back (hopefully) on Friday to tell you about my upcoming weekend plans.

MDA Lock-up

Well, I survived my stint in the big house. I was "arrested" for Mucular Dystropy Association. I was picked up by a Huntsville Police Officer and escorted to Sci-Quest in Huntsville where I had to present my "bail" money to the "judge". I was very fortunate to have raised a good bit of money ahead of time. But I made a few calls and raised several more hundred. I am counting on the company I work for to match my first $1000, also. I enjoyed a good barbecue lunch (they ran out of banana pudding, though) and was escorted back home by limousine. I raised at least enough to send 3 children to MDA's summer camp. I am glad I participated in the fundraiser and am touched by the generosity of so many people. Several of my husbands colleagues came through as well as mine.

Book Update

While on Vacation I read the new John Grisham book, Playing for Pizza. It is written in his usual style but is not a legal thriller. The story follows a disgraced NFL quaterback on his adventures in Italy playing for the Parma Panthers. Just like his previous book, The Broker, it made me want to visit Italy. I enjoyed the book, although I thought it was too short.



I also read the latest Diana Gabaldon book, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade. This is the second Lord John book she has written. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first. I would only recommend it to those readers who are already fans of the Outlander series.



I just finished reading Track of the Cat, by Nevada Barr for the second time. This is the first of the Anna Pigeon Mysteries. My book club has chosen this book for November. I read it several years ago and have read all the other books in the series. Anna Pigeon is a National Parks Ranger and all of the books take place in different National Parks. Like other mystery heroines, people are always dying around Anna. There is always a murder to solve. Track of the Cat is not the best of the series but I think it is important (though not entirely necessary in this case) to read them in order. I highly recommend this series to any murder mystery lovers out there.



I'm sure I was reading something else before all of these but I can't recall now what it was. Must not have been that memorable. I have a lot of things still on my shelf to read. My SIL brought me two books when she was in town and I checked out one from the library. One down side to the new job is there isn't quite as much time to read. Bummer!

Jail Bird

Hey! Thursday is the day I am going to be locked-up in Jail for MDA. It's not too late to help me with your 100% tax deductible donation. Please!!! Any amount is appreciated.

Blog Fodder

Blog Fodder, blog fodder, where are you...

I am not going to blog about the ballgame yesterday. I've refrained from blogging about football this fall for good reason. I'm not going to blog about how I stayed up 'til after 11:30 (by myself) last night watching a game that did not turn out so well for us. Why do they have games starting at 8pm? T.V. of course. Football was all anyone wanted to talk about in Sunday School this morning (well, the men anyway). I really didn't want to relive it at 8 am this morning. Apparently, our rival school across the state had a big win yesterday. Some guy mentioned how the coach had shown he was worth the $4 million he had been paid. I can't help being thankful it isn't my Alma Mater that paid that much for a FOOTBALL coach. Anyway, I said I wasn't going to blog about it, okay? So STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!

Glorious Autumn

The kids and I loaded up the bikes on our new bike rack and headed out to the Indian Creek Green way this morning. The weather was wonderful (even a little cold in the shade). We rode about 1.5 miles then sat in the sun and had a snack before returning to the car. I had been shut up inside all week at work and it was great to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

Hubby and some buddies have headed to the mountains in Tennessee for the weekend and the kids and I are flying solo. Last night we picked up Pizza Hut and watched a movie. Tomorrow, after Sunday School we are going out for breakfast. This afternoon they are busy playing and I am just relaxing. I slept better last night than I have in weeks.

Thursday, night we had a house full. Mike from AtHomeDaddy drove over from Texas to go camping. My SIL drove over (from the other direction) to see him while he was here. Unfortunately, she did not get to stay but one night. Mike, if you are wondering, is just as entertaining in person as he is on his blog.

I had lunch with some fellow Homemaker's on Friday to celebrate Homemaker's Week in Madison. We ate at the Welcome Table, a small restaurant in Madison. Although, a little shabby on the outside it was very elegant inside. I had a wonderful lunch of chicken salad on croissant with sweet potato fries. I also enjoyed the conversation with the other ladies.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekends and this great fall weather we are having.

Monday

Where have I been? Well I went on vacation for a few days, and when I returned of course there were many things needing attention. The I worked all weekend. So here I am trying to catch up on a week's worth of blogging. So much for my ambition to blog two to three times per week.

Our Vacation to the Beach went well. We put the kids in seperate rows in the back of the Tahoe and that seemed to work really well. They did not have the temptation to irritate each other. As expected there was some argument on whose turn it was to ride in the very back. The weather was wonderful. It did not rain, was in the 90's every day and the water was warm.f

Our condo in Ft Walton Beach was adequate but had some problems. The first morning there I had planned to cook cinnamon rolls and discovered there was no bread pan or cookie sheet. And no pot holders, either. We couldn't find the remote to the DVD player. The bed. Don't even let me get started on the bed. But besides all that it was a relaxing vacation. We played at the beach and at the pool. I read a lot. We watched T.V and the kids did their usual playing. We ate out every night and had some nice meals. We raced go-carts, a vacation tradition.

My daughter's birthday fell during the week and we had her ears pierced. I had my pierced at age 6 but had decided she should wait until 7. I think she was suprised how much it hurt, but seems to be happy with them now. She is trying to be responsible and clean them every day.

We watched the first 8 episodes of Lost. I had checked it out of the library. We are hooked now. I went back to the library but they did not have the next set. I guess we will order it from Netflix. We finally got through the first season of Sopranos. Of course, now we have all the regular prime-time stuff recorded on TiVo and have to work our way through that.

Hubby's camping trip is coming up this weekend and AtHomeDaddy is driving out to participate. My SIL is coming in to stay a few days, too. So I guess we will have a busy weekend.

My fundraising for MDA is going well, however, I am still a long way from my goal. I wonder if they will really leave you locked up if you fail to raise your bail. Anyway, that is still a week away.

I really should have broken this post up into several and spread it over a few days to make it look better. Oh, well. Thanks for stopping by and I'll talk to you later.

Saturday

Today was the Madison Street Festival. Hubby and I, along with my daughter drove the 1924 Chevy in the parade. We had a good time waving to the crowds lining the street. The parade is just a short jaunt down one street and up another and includes not only the usual Boy Scouts, Beautie Queens in convertibles and marching band but also people pushing strollers and pulling wagons. The street fair seems to get bigger every year. The kids enjoyed the morning with the Grandparents. Hubby and I had a nice lunch out alone. I had to head back out to the street fair late in the afternoon. My Homemaker's Club has a booth every year to sell pizza and my shift was 4-6 pm. I brought home cheese pizza for the kids and donuts for everyone. I drove the Miata over to the street fair because I was afraid of the parking situation. The Miata is certainly a lot easier to maneuver in tight areas. The weather could not have been better. It was warm and sunny with a cool breeze. I enjoyed cruising around in the little car.

Thirteen Things I Am Going To Do At the Beach

Well Fall break officially starts tomorrow afternoon and we are headed to the beach for a few days. What I love most about the beach is the layed back atmosphere and the lack of pressure to do anything. Some vacations you feel like you have to go, go, go (like Disney World) but at the beach you just are.

1. Eat
2. Read
3. Sit and listen to the surf
4. Ride Go-Karts, a family tradition
5. Sleep late
6. Watch the kids play in the pool
7. Sit on the beach and read
8. Help the kids build sandcastles
9. Watch movies and stay up too late
10. Play games
11. Eat
12. Sit outside on the balcony and read
13. Spend time with the family

Changes Coming On

Tomorrow is my last day of work at my current job. I am leaving this slow-paced, quite workplace (with a window) to go back to the hurried, frantic pace of retail. I'm not really going to go into the reasons for this change because I don't feel I need to defend my decision. The decision was prayed about and it has been made.

The reason I'm telling you is that it will affect not only my blogging but my reading of blogs. At my current job I have lots of downtime with which to spend on the computer reading blogs. At my new job not only will I not have time but will not have internet access. This means I will only be checking blogs on my off-time. Sadly, I will be cutting down on the number of blogs I can keep up with.

So many people I have gotten to know through the blog-world and many of them I will miss checking in with several times a week. I will still visit, I'm sure, though not as frequently, and I will try to blog at least twice a week.

Monday

What a glorious Sunday we had. I stayed up too late Saturday night. I was too keyed up from the excitement of watching Auburn beat Floriday to sleep. War Eagle!! So Sunday morning we slept late. I went out for my morning walk with the kids riding their bikes. It was a great day weather-wise, one of those blue-sky, cool days we so longed for during the heat of August. I put out my yard display (first in the cul-de-sac, thank you). I took a much needed nap and took the kids out for ice cream. I enjoyed my hot tub for a while. I fixed a big pot of chili for supper and we watched the Japanese Grand Prix. My back is hurting again this morning and I wish I knew what I had done to it. But otherwise, I'm having a good morning and looking forward to this weekend (more later.)