No Tricks, Just Treats

After nearly three days of Halloween fun I must say that I am ready to move on to a new month and a new holiday. It's a good thing we have a few weeks to decide what to cook for Thanksgiving. Turkey or no turkey? Or maybe we'll just skip the big dinner this year. Anyways, I am actually impressed with how well this year's Halloween went. The kids' costumes were simple and yet impressive. S-Boogie wanted to be a black cat, so she wore a black turtleneck and black tights (with black bike shorts over them to hide the panties). We got her some cat ears and a tail, and all we needed was a bit of face paint for whiskers. It was a hit and she loved her costume. Little Dude was a bat, in black sweat pants and black shirt. His wings are actually a large black napkin that Mr. Fob found at the store the other day. He cut a hole in it for Little Dude's head, cut the bottom edge in a bat-like scallop, and then we pinned the corners to the ends of Little Dude's sleeves. He loved being a bat and ran around flapping his "wings". We had a ward "Trunk or Treat" on Wednesday night and the kids had a great time. Then S-Boogie got to wear her costume to her dance class yesterday afternoon (and Little Dude wore his in solidarity). This afternoon they dressed up and we went to a fun Halloween party at the Family Housing complex next door. It was awesome; they had crafts and games, healthy snacks, and even a visit from the university marching band. The band members were all wearing costumes and they put on a really fun show for the kids with all kinds of twirling instruments and fancy footwork. Then tonight we went trick or treating and got more candy. It was a fun Halloween for both kids, and my only regret is buying the five-pound bag of candy bars at Costco. We only got two trick-or-treaters, so I think we're going to be eating that candy for the next six months or so. The pancakes are from this morning. S-Boogie didn't have school, so I figured it would be fun to take the time to actually cook breakfast. I used food coloring to make them orange, but I was really wishing they were pumpkin pancakes instead. I don't know when we'll have pumpkin pancakes next, because Costco disappointed me this afternoon by not having cans of pumpkin like they usually do this time of year. They've also stopped selling five-pound bags of brown sugar and frozen juice concentrate, so I'm beginning to get a little frustrated with them. At least they still have tasty muffins and cheap cereal, so I guess I'll keep shopping there. Maybe this is the impetus I need to cook my own pumpkins from the farmer's market. As if I had time for that.

A Change in the Weather

Shh...don't tell anyone, but I'm writing a blog post instead of writing my five-page paper that's due next week. This last month or so has seen a serious break in the blogging rhythm for me, and it's frustrating because I really have had a lot of good thoughts. Unfortunately they fly away from me and are lost in the ether due to the general craziness of life. School really is taking up a lot of my time. If I put as much effort into doing homework as I do into avoiding it I'd probably get more done, but I also don't have a lot of uninterrupted time to do it in. S-Boogie's new school schedule also means that I have no more time without children during the day. Little Dude is with me all morning while Mr. Fob works, and then when he goes down for a nap S-Boogie is home from school and wanting attention. And now Little Dude has decided he no longer needs naps, so many afternoons are quite crazy.

Thankfully, this morning I actually had three hours of uninterrupted homework time. I did a lot of research and have been thinking about it all day, so hopefully the paper will get written at some point this weekend. I found someone in my ward to watch Little Dude one morning a week for me while I do homework. He seemed to enjoy his visit to a friend's house and I managed to have self-control and actually do things. It also started raining. This is mostly impressive because for the last three months since we moved here it's been mostly sunny and hot. It was actually starting to bother me a little because every day was the same. I'm enjoying the rain and the cold. Not only that, but Mr. Fob's paycheck debacle finally got straightened out and I just received the first installment of my graduate stipend. November feels like it's going to be a good month.

Loose Ends

I've been meaning to write a post about how difficult the transition to graduate school has been and about how I mostly feel swamped, but I don't have time.

S-Boogie lost her first tooth the other day. It was earlier than I had expected, but thankfully it was quick and painless. I put pictures on the kids' blog.

S-Boogie is also adjusting well to her new morning kindergarten class at the Spanish Immersion school. It's been a little hard getting her out the door in the morning, but we're all doing OK.

Despite the fact that October is nearly over, Mr. Fob's paycheck is still in limbo (yes it's been a few weeks). We have determined that we did nothing wrong, but no one has yet been able to figure out why the bank cannot cash the check. Thankfully we actually put most of our expenses on our credit card and pay it off every month, but unfortunately most of our large, credit-ruining expenses like our rent and car payment need to come out of the bank account. We are fairly confident that at some point most of the fees will be erased because this looks like bank error, but it's still very frustrating.

Last but not least, my mom is going to be on Who Wants to be a Millionaire this week. She'll be on Wednesday and Thursday; the show usually airs in the afternoon in most areas, you can check this website for your station and time.

The "Animal"

Wednesday morning Mr. Fob got up, went in our dining room, turned on the light, and watched a mouse scurry into the kitchen and hide under the refrigerator. Not only was this particularly gross, but Wednesday afternoon Mr. Fob's sister was coming in to visit us for a few day. She is deathly afraid of mice. I was at the gym when the mouse incident occurred, so when I got home Mr. Fob informed me in code that an "animal" had been seen in our kitchen. We were trying to avoid having the kids talk about it all weekend while our guests were here, but they figured it out anyway. As soon as Auntie M showed up, S-Boogie announced "I have a secret! There's an animal in our house under our fridge. I think it's a mouse!" Sigh.

The managers gave us some glue traps and we set them up in a few places. We decided to put some animal crackers and peanut butter in them in hopes of luring the creature out. After a few days nothing happened and I assumed the mouse had gone on his merry way. Then Saturday morning we were woken up by a commotion in the dining room. Apparently Little Dude noticed a mouse stuck in the trap and pulled it out of its hiding place. I'm glad he didn't get bitten. Unfortunately we weren't sure what to do with it after that. I felt terrible because the mouse was obviously terrified and trying to free himself from the trap, but we really couldn't have him in our house. I finally decided to just throw it in the dumpster, and I said a prayer that he would die a quick death. I still feel bad for the poor little mouse, but we really can't have animals in our home. I hope we never have to do that again.

Hi Everybody!

(I hope you thought of Dr. Nick when you read that title.) I just realized that it's been a week since I posted, and even more time since I said anything substantive. It's just been a yucky week here; I got sick on Tuesday and things went downhill from there. I've been hoping for an upswing so I could post about how lovely everything managed to turn out, but I'm still sick and Mr. Fob's paycheck is still lost in limbo. And I'm still drowning in homework, plus the weather has turned cold and extremely windy. At least tomorrow is Saturday and we can have some fun time together as a family (in theory). At some point things have to get better, right?

PS--I did attend a nice meeting this afternoon where I got free cake, a free pen, and a nice pat on the back for being one of 5 students (out of 60 candidates) chosen for my special fellowship. I do have to help plan a symposium, but at least once a month I get free cake!

Reading Roundup September 2008

Books

Children of the Promise by Dean Hughes

I've read this series (5 books) a few times now, but it's one I like to pull out every now and then for some "comfort reading". Even though I consider it "light" reading, it really isn't all that "light" in content or quality. I love historical fiction and I really like these books because they deal with the past just as easily as they deal with our normal human emotions and impulses. The characters and their conflicts manage to seem relevant to today even though they are placed in the past.

Hearts of the Children by Dean Hughes

The follow-up to the first series, this one follows some of the second generation through the issues of the 1960s. In this series I really admire Hughes' ability to tackle tough issues like Vietnam and the civil rights movement and still get published by Deseret Book. These books are surprisingly intense and complicated. My only complaint with this series is that sometimes the books feel a little dialogue heavy, especially the last few. Also, you really have to read them all in order to get a sense of what's going on (and there were some annoying typos in the last few books). Other than that, I highly recommend this series for some thoughtful, enjoyable reading. I especially like the storyline about LDS members in East Germany because that is a time and place I know little about.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

I've heard such wonderful things about this book from a number of people that I'm afraid I could only be disappointed by it. It was a decent read, but fell short of my expectations. I also have read very few crime novels, so the tone and characterization was not what I was expecting. It was a good book, but I don't think it's really my style.

Movies

Brokeback Mountain

I've seen this a few times already, but after watching Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight we decided that we wanted to see it again. And then we remembered that it's really, really sad. It's a good movie, just don't expect a happy ending.

Stranger Than Fiction

This movie was better than I thought it would be (sometimes Will Farrell bugs me too much). The post-modern premise actually worked and we really enjoyed it.

American Dreamz

I actually enjoyed this one up until the ending. Hugh Grant is surprisingly acerbic, and the rest of the actors do a good job too. Several reviews I read talked about the fact that it doesn't quite work as satire, and I agree, but there are some funny moments in this movie.