Pumpkins & misc.

I'm not really into Halloween -- especially now that I don't even get any candy. :( But I have been waiting to use this:

...made in one of my typoGenerator addiction cycles.

Today is Scott's 40th birthday. He chose to spend it camping and hiking with Ian and Christopher. I'm glad that they can spend time together like that. My dad never wanted to do anything with my brother and I -- unless it was chores. :P

I was supposed to go to my parents' house today, but I think I'm going to have to call and cancel. I'm babysitting Jordan today, I want to get the house clean and decorated for Scott's birthday, and tonight is "Trunk or Treat" at the church for the kids. (The kids play games inside the cultural hall and then go out to the parking lot and trick or treat at the car trunks in the parking lot.)

My only real regret about not going to visit today is that I will miss seeing my cousin Andrew who is back from Iraq for a visit. I would love to talk to him about his experiences.

Cassandra and I stayed up really late last night making a mouse costume for Jordan. He looks so cute. I'll have to post some pictures later.

Whew

I find that babysitting Jordan most days for so many hours is physically and mentally exhausting. He's so adorable, though. It does help a great deal that Charity, Ian & Christopher are here all day. They help me by entertaining him and feeding him when I get tired or need to do something else. It's actually pretty amazing that all of them are so good with Jordan. They all really love having a nephew -- most of the time. Jordan is 6 months old today. Time sure flies -- pretty soon we'll be chasing him all over the house. Oh. Joy.

Cassandra started a new job yesterday as a grocery store cashier. It doesn't pay as much, but it's much better than the telemarketing job she had last week. :P I think I like her hours better. At her last job she worked evenings, and that is "fussy time" for Jordan. We are all happier if he has his mommy during that special time. ;)

Well, I have to get my shoes on and head out to the car in a few minutes. I'm picking up Charity from early-morning Seminary, taking Cassandra to work, and running a few errands with Jordan. At least Charity will be there to help me with the little guy.

Why

...is it that I got so much comment spam in one day? It took me literally hours to get rid of it, so surely there must be some way they can automatically generate that crap??? And I would venture to say that when most of us realize we have all that crap in our comments, we feel we have to get rid of it right away -- headache or not. All I wanted to do this morning was go back to bed, but knowing that was there -- I couldn't rest. Anyway, I went ahead and disabled commenting on all of my posts that are older than 2 weeks -- one message at a time. What a shame to have to do that, but I can't stomach ever have to delete that much garbage again. I highly recommend blocking 198.26.118.37. I guess that no matter what I want to say beyond that, I won't. Some people don't try to endear themselves to others.

...is it that I always do this? I start posting again only to quit. Then I come back in a week or so and apologize. It's a pattern that I recognize when I look at my old posts. ;)

...is it that there is about 147% humidity today? It was very hard to drive this morning with the windshield, windows and mirrors all fogged up. No matter what I did, it stayed that way. Plus it isn't really hot, but it feels like it's about 20 degrees hotter than it is.

...is it that I am already done with this post, yet I haven't posted in a week? I think it may be that I am just tired lately. Not so much tired physically, but emotionally. Too much is weighing on me right now -- much of it stuff that will have to wait to be talked about.

Excuse #47

It's been awhile -- again. Life sometimes has a way of getting too discouraging to write sometimes. Things have been a little difficult around here lately.

I didn't mention that I finally got an appointment with the Delicate Genius. Apparently she did agree to take me as a new patient -- it was her staff that made the mistake. My mom straightened it out, and supposedly they were so embarrassed (but no one was ever embarrassed enough to call and apologize). :P But I am glad that I went. She was very nice and very helpful. I found out that I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). It's a complex, systemic endocrine disorder. Anyway, it's a relief to finally know what's wrong with me. I have had health problems for several years not knowing what the problem was. I am switching to a low glycemic diet because one of the related problems I have is insulin resistance -- pre-diabetic. But it isn't difficult to be motivated so far knowing that that I need to do this. It's not just a good idea anymore.

And I have started babysitting Jordan while my daughter works in the evenings. I love the little guy, but it's so exhausting. Evenings are always a really fussy time for him. :P

And I guess I will post this now, because if I try to think of anything else my brain will explode and it will be another week or so before I post again.

October

I've been waiting to use this graphic for a few months now, but as always, a day late. :P

The first weekend in October is always General Conference. I love Conference, especially since I can watch it at home. I can stay in my nightgown if I want. Okay, I'll get dressed since it starts in about an hour. At least I don't have to wear a dress and put on makeup.

Powers that be back

The power went off for a few seconds yesterday, and then I couldn't get on the internet -- something to do with the thingy-bobber -- you know, the satellite box-thingy. I let Scott handle stuff like that. I should have posted this last night when he fixed it, but I was playing Stronghold Crusader. ;) Yes, I'm back into that game again. I haven't really played since June.

Yesterday's (Friday's) steps: 4333 -- a little better
Goal: at least 10,000 steps a day

Anyway, here is what I wrote yesterday before the power went off:

We all watched the debates last night and thought that Bush did quite well, despite our perception that the questions seemed to be slanted in favor of Kerry. I thought John Kerry looked like a little old lady with the big hair and the makeup. Cassandra said he looked and acted a lot like a televangelist. From what I understand, Kerry told about 17 lies last night. I believe it, but I don't feel like going into this anymore. I have lots of tolerance for reading and listening to politics, but writing about it is tiresome to me. I don't know how some bloggers can stand to write about it every day.

As far as watching and reading about politics goes, my husband and I as well as all of our children are very interested. We've decided that politics to us is like sports to most people. There is some interesting game on almost every day, and the election is like the Super Bowl or the World Series or something. ;)

In other news:

• I switched to Mozilla Firefox yesterday. I really like it. I had been thinking about it for almost a year, and I finally decided to try it.


• My mom gave me a couple of huge rolls of 2" black velcro. I think I have a lifetime supply now. I've been putting it on the fitted cloth diapers I made earlier for Jordan. It's not as pretty as the white, but they're diapers. The idea is to save money, so free Velcro is not something to get picky about.


• Yesterday's (Thursday's) steps: 2068 :P
  Goal: at least 10,000 steps a day