What Struck Me

A bit more festive than the old, doncha think? Enjoy it till I get sick of it and come up with something for the holidays!

Ah, autumn. It’s a gorgeous day, already 70 degrees at 10am. Went outside to take some pictures.

The backyard is covered in oak leaves

Despite the oak trees still looking full

I love the big oaks in our backyard, all summer they keep the yard and our deck shaded.

Still, every fall I’m tempted to chop the damn things down to avoid the mess they make.

This is Andy’s score sheet for today:

He does better every week. That 222 is his all time high game!

Some pictures from today’s festivities:

Tim “slimed”

The school principal (great guy- but wonder why he rolled his eyes while saying this is his favorite day of the year :rollie: ?)

Some of the new construction

Yesterday I was the Mystery Reader for Tim’s class. I showed up at 2pm with a great spooky book, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. It’s full of noises and actions- perfect for first graders.

Immediately I was told by 20 six year olds that they’d just read the same book at Library two days ago. Apparently the school libarian thought it was perfect for first graders, too. I put a good spin on it, told them I was glad they knew the story because I needed help telling it, and they all got into it with me. I love that stuff!

After the story I pulled out the craft I’d brought along, those foam doorknob hangers in Frankenstein head and Haunted House shapes, and foam spooky shapes to stick onto them. Tim’s teacher started to panic when she was imagining glue sticks and messes… until I assured her they were all stickers and the only mess would be a whole lot of paper backings on the floor.

We were just finishing the door hangers when the fire alarm went off- I’d been warned there was going to be a drill. I stuck around through the drill just because I didn’t want Tim to get concerned if I disappeared (not that he’d even notice, probably.)

Tim’s door hanger

Today is the Halloween parade. In our town it’s tradition for all the kids in the elementary school to go home for lunch and come back to school in costume for the parade and parties in the afternoon. As the years go by we have more and more kids in the school and fewer and fewer go home, and I was sure this year they’d skip the whole thing, since the school property is basically a huge construction site with little parking. The teachers actually park in the lot of a nearby store and walk a path cut through a field to get to the school.

But, tradition is tradition so the kids are going home to change. I was tempted to leave Tim at school. His costume is a sweatshirt and a hat so not a difficult one to assemble, but I figured I really don’t have a good reason outside of lazyness to park 3/4 of a mile away and walk over to bring him home, then go back and do the same again to return him for the parade. Only two more years of this…

We got the latest issue of Wired mag in the mail the other day, and I picked up November Vanity Fair (Johnny Depp on the cover was only one factor in the purchase.) Both had freebie CDs filled with new music, which is something I rarely get to hear. I miss the days of free-thinking radio djs who would play whatever they wanted. I’m seriously considering getting a satellite radio, but the thought of all those choices scares me! How do you know what to listen too?

The new CDs are cool, though. They made those choices for me. I ripped them to my iTunes and I’ll keep what I like on there.

I used to be a music nut as a kid. I’d spend my last penny on a new album I wanted, and I’d haunt local music shops and even the records rack at the library! I was too shy to be a dj at the college radio station, but I’d hang out down there anyway. Then I got a job managing a record store, sure it was boring and paid hardly anything but it was so cool! Part of my job interview was “Who is the lead singer in Van Halen?” Sammy Hagar had just been announced that week, and I knew it. I got the job on the spot :rocker:.

The state of new music is interesting again. It got so tedious there for awhile, from about the mid 80s through the 90s, with a few bright lights shining through (grunge and some hiphop but not most hiphop.) But in the last few years suddenly music is interesting again. Right now I’m listening to something called Action at a Distance by Matmos, sounds like someone banging a trash can lid. Seque into 1985 which sounds like Weird Al but is really Bowling for Soup. I like the extremes!

Humpday. Also the last Wednesday in October. Where the hell did the last two months go, anyway? I feel like I was just starting to head into the new school year, busy busy busy- and that’s what happened, but I feel like I’ve been just hurtling forward out of control. Every day the second thing I do is check my calendar to see what I have going on, because I’ll be damned if I can actually remember anything!

I find myself making little todo lists each day and either doing all those things or just pushing them onto tomorrow’s list. If it’s not on the calendar or on a list it ain’t happening. And don’t ask me about something on the calendar for next week- I don’t even want to think about it until this week is over.

I don’t even have a job! Imagine if I was was trying to be a good employee and a good mom and a good wife and a good daughter and a good sister and a good daughter-in-law etc etc etc…

Calgon… sigh.

Had to laugh at the South Park ep last night in which Stan’s mom is going batty because Aunt Flo doesn’t come around anymore. Maybe that’s the problem, Ol’ Aunt Flo is starting to get on my nerves with her erratic behavior!

Next on today’s todo list- organize the (very easy) craft I’m doing with Tim’s class tomorrow, pull together the supplies needed for tonight’s Tiger Cub meeting, and find those bags of old clothes I said I’d leave out for the truck to pick up Monday. Chances are that last item will keep getting pushed to the next day’s todo list until Sunday.