Hello Again

Yes, yes, it's been a while.  It's been busy.  The Player has arrived.  There will be no further negotiations.  We got The Player To Be Named Later and A Cat Named Boo Radley. In exchange the other team got...hmmm,  I guess they didn't get anything.  Such a deal for our team!   Here's Boo:

Oh wait, no that's Sisi in her black cat Halloween costume.  Here is Boo the cat:

This was taken before Boo was allowed to go outside.  Now he appears to be living under the deck, keeping the new homestead safe from bunnies and chipmunks.  Or just hiding from the kids.  I can't tell for sure yet. 

Here is another picture from Halloween, this time of J-dude dressed in a hybrid costume.  Energy saving in the sense that we did not have to purchase anything to make this costume.  We just recycled several parts of old costumes and voila...free candy for J-dude!

That is the scariest thing about Halloween:  free candy and a 10-year old boy.  I found the free candy in J-dude's room one night about 2:30 a.m.  I promptly removed said free candy and replaced it with free healthy food.  Biscuits and applesauce if I remember correctly.  Less scary for everyone, indeed.   

Frankenstein Friday

Yes that's right...the 4th Friday in October.  Who knew?

It's also Harvest Day at the kids' school.  They informed me last night they needed to dress in "farmer clothes" and why didn't I magically just come up with jeans (which Sisi has claimed in the past she will never wear), or overalls (which Sisi used to rip off when she was a toddler if I attempted to dress her in them) or flannel shirts (hello? ).  So they are just wearing, well, whatever.  Sisi has an orange bandana on her cute little head.  And a button up shirt.  She looks adorable.

J-dude is still sleeping.  He stayed up late to watch Game 6 of the World Series so he will probably feel more like Frankenstein than a farmer when I go to wake him.  I hope I don't feel like the little guy in the picture when that happens.  Thank goodness my little guy is still...well, little.

A Walk on the Wild Side

On Saturday afternoon The Player and I went for a walk at Parklands.  We decided to try a trail there we've never walked along before.  The trail split at one point and though The Player said we should go to the right I said no no we should go to the left.  After a while that branch of the trail came to an end that looked like this:

We turned back and took the right fork which led to the river.  As we walked along I could feel my blood sugar getting a little bit low.  I willed it to stop but it kept falling until I finally said I had to turn back and go to the car to get something to eat or drink.
But first I took some pictures of the fall colors:

Yes yes I should have had food with me for the walk.  But that was my second error of the day.  And The Player was unnerved by my apparent pale appearance.  I won't tell you what he said...ok ok yes I will.  He said I looked like I was in a Wax Museum.  I laughed pretty hard when he told me that, of course by then my blood sugar was back to normal and I had a sense of humor again as well as some pink in my cheeks.  So from now on I will be taking the fork in the road he suggests first and carrying some carbs along for the walks. 

Rest In Peace Sweet Wolf

Gee, suddenly my bad hips don't seem to hurt so badly after all!

Good day, Sunshine!

Why yes, I do like hummus.  Thank you!

The terrific trio

We love you, Wolf.

A Sad Week

On Sunday afternoon Wolf, our beloved old dog, stopped eating his regular dog food.  He eventually gave up eating his treats, cheese, and drinking much water.  When he ate a little pizza out of my hand on Monday evening I thought maybe he was just on a hunger strike for better meals.  But Tuesday morning he wouldn't even fall for the pizza trick.

Tuesday afternoon we made a trip to the vet to see Dr. Matt.  The news is not good.  Liver and kidneys not working well.  He gave Wolf a couple shots to control the nausea he has probably been feeling and we entered the phase of Wolf's life which I am calling "Doggy Hospice."  We have a few days at most according to Dr. Matt, until we need to make that last vet appointment for Wolf.

As if on cue the universe provided exactly the person I probably most wanted to see when we left the exam room and went out to pay the receptionist after Wolf's appointment.  Bob.  Bob my pastor.  Bob the dog lover.  Bob the dog trainer extraordinaire.  Serendipity Bob and his puppy Daisy.  We chatted outside for a while, and then I got in my car and drove to get the kids and give them the crappy news.

The kids and I spoiled Wolf last night.  He got a hamburger, which he actually ate.  He slept with all 3 of us nearby.  This morning he drank a little water and got up the stairs on his own, so I know he feels a little better.  Today is probably not going to be the day, but it will be soon.    And that makes this one very sad week.

If I Won the Lottery

Yesterday was Dictionary Day according to the bizarre holiday website!  I love that there is a dictionary day.  It falls on Noah Webster's birthday, appropriately.  I love my big red dictionary but if I won the lottey I might buy a copy of the OED.  The 20-volume set is only $995 (plus shipping and handling).  I wouldn't actually need to win the lottery to purchase it, but I would need to win the lottery to build a big library with built-in shelves and a fireplace in which to house the books.  And I would have to be able to quit my job because I would just want to sit by the fireplace all winter drinking something warm and reading from the OED.  I would call up my working friends and annoy them with definitions of obscure words while they are trying to write a sermon or perform a play or send someone an important email or fix something broken. 

So maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.  Now that I have a plan for the money.

Jack-o-lanterns

J-dude's recipe for jack-o-lanterns.

1.  Whine until your mom takes you to the store on Friday evening to buy pumpkins.
2.  Whine when you get home that night when your mom is too tired to carve the jack-o-lanterns.
3.  Talk back and get sent to your room.
4.  Come out of your room and do not bring the subject up again until

5.  Saturday morning get up and ask your mom to carve the jack-o-lanterns.  Do not whine.
6.  When you meet resistance say "You said last night we could do it today."  Insist.
7.  Do not whine.
8.  Smile really nicely at your mom.
9.  When she says okay, do everything she asks and nothing she asks you specifically not to do.
10.  Remember not to whine.
11.  Spend a long time cleaning out the seeds and placing them in a container. 

12.  Ask your mom to carve the face, because she likes to do that.
13.  Don't complain or whine if you don't like the face she carved. 

14.  Ask nicely if the seeds could be cooked right away.

15.  Yummm!  Don't forget to say Thank You!