So I Was Just Thinking

I usually love my birthday week. Doesn't everyone celebrate birthday weeks? This week though found me with just me and the kids. Every morning I had to be at work by 7 a.m. to stand and watch a relatively empty hallway at school. One morning, I couldn't find my i.d. card so I couldn't get through the gate on post. I had to drive home, dump my purse and run through my memory of when I used the card last....I last saw it on Election Day at the polls. Then I had to remember what raincoat I was wearing. This made me 10 minutes late for duty. My mother went out of town and of course, my husband doesn't live here anymore, so I made plans with a couple of friends to go to one of our favorite hangouts after school today. I also made arrangements to take my friend and her kids and my kids to the World Hunger Farm for their Farm Day. Unfortunately, plans have changed. My friend had to ground both boys because of some majorly severe actions that occurred at school, and I found out...

That little critter in the post below is a moth? I can't imagine how it flies. Are its wings tucked underneath. I decided to just look up T-shaped insect and this is what came up: Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla is a moth of the Pterophoroidea family. It is found in Europe and Anatolia . The wingspan is 17-25 mm. [ 1 ] The moths fly from March to October depending on the location. The larvae feed on Succisa pratensis , Linaria vulgaris , Weasel's snout and Knautia species. ( Wikipedia ) Well, that's enough of the entomology for today. (BTW - I didn't know know how to spell that either.)

Can you see that? It was on the door outside school.

...or in our case Trunk or Treat. We will be going to church tonight to participate in Trunk or Treat. For years our church and others like ours rejected the holiday of Halloween because of its pagan background. Recently (within the past 5 or more years) or church has begun offering an alternative to trick or treating by providing games inside the fellowship hall and bounce houses in the parking lot during the day. Our pastor and his "crew" came to realize that they missing out on a real opportunity to minister to the people surrounding our church and the rest of the community by doing a daytime event. This is where the beginning of Trunk or Treat came to be. So many people come to our event that we usually run out of candy. We have gathered almost double the candy this year, but expect to run out again. Last year we set up our truck for this event and had a really good time. We will be going this year but without the trunk. Caitlin wanted a special candy bag so we gathered t...

I came into my house after enjoying a pleasant fall outing with the kids and my mother. I looked at the living room and told the kids there was no way the t.v. or computer was coming on until the living room was tidy. There was lots of whining and complaining from the littlest until I told him that whatever I picked up was going in the trash even if it was treasure. Caitlin cleaned the dining/homework/craft table off then began picking up all the things her brother dropped on the floor. (Believe me you don't want to know.) I wandered over to the living room side of the room and found James still sitting there so I began picking up cars and tracks. This was followed by a scream and a little boy hurriedly picking up his toys. The other thing that James does is hide wrappers and toys and books under the two arm chairs. I told him it was his responsibility to clean up his mess. He refused so I told him the same thing as before. Only this time I said he had to decide which was trash an...

...of the science project. Caitlin and her friend have had no luck with their science project and tonight was the coup de grace . I asked Caitlin to bring her project in from outside because it was supposed to get really cold and I didn't want the sprouts to die. She did and I told her, "Put it on top of the fridge so the dog doesn't eat it." She did. Then I asked her to make her brother some hot chocolate. She did. The she went to get the milk out the fridge. That's where the crash comes in. And the aftermath. I think this project is kaput.

My house is getting set for Halloween. It actually started the process by itself yesterday. I was on my way to the car when I noticed this: Does anyone know what kind of spider it is?? (Click on the photo for a larger view.) It is way up on the roof line out of my reach. Usually when Halloween comes around I use whole pumpkins. No Jack O'Lanterns. No mess. Here is what they usually look like: This year James learned about Jack O'Lanterns and wanted to cut up the pumpkins. The problem with pumpkins is they are kind of icky inside. I am well known for not liking anything messy. Well pumpkins definitely qualify as MESSY! The things I do for my son. But the end results were worth it! James designed the traditional pumpkin. Caitlin drew the cat pumpkin. That was a hard one to do. The cat pumpkin is much larger than James' pumpkin therefor much thicker. The good thing about the larger one was it was dryer and easier to clean out than the little one which was stringy, wet and sl...